Nature's Troubles
by Koomahana
Summary: Sakura was wounded heavily and at the last moment before she died someone or something decided to send her back in time in hopes of saving the future. the problem is that she's hearing voices, has amnesia and can't figure out why everyone around her is both a friend and an enemy.
1. Chapter 1

**There is a reason**

Chapter 1: thinking of the past creates mistakes

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

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He made a promise to protect her

He made a promise to keep her safe

"I will get you back," he whispered as he glared at the failed sacrifice for his jutsu, he hadn't gotten even half way through the jutsu before the sacrifice convulsed and a strange light filtered through her eyes.

"_You'll never find her,_" the woman grinned at him, mockery lacing her words.

"Who are you?" he had demanded, staring down at the sacrifice in shock and curiosity

"_I am the guardian of death,_" the woman chuckled, making him grit his teeth in annoyance. "_The soul you seek has already moved on—you will never find her now._"

"Watch me," He growled out, the woman's face twisted into sadistic pleasure before morphing into shock as she felt his sword pierce through her lung and heart.

"_Ha-ha-ha, you truly belief that you'll find her?_" the woman asked, ignoring the blood that dribbled down her chin.

"I will," he snarled at her, twisting his blade

"_Fool!_" the woman cackled, barely wincing at the flaring pain. "_The Sanbi protects her now! You'll never find her! The smoke of her home hides her from your view! The Sanbi's scars shall hide her from all those who seek her! You will never find her!_"

"I will," he snarled again, lifting the sword and leveling it at her throat. "I will keep my promise! I will protect her! I will make sure she lives—that she'll survive! I swore to protect her! And I will not go back on my word!" The woman's expression smoothed out, her eyes calculating as she stared up at him.

"_You will stop at nothing?_" the woman asked curiously. "_Even if she seeks you to be happy? Even if she wishes for you to stop chasing after her?_"

"I will do whatever it takes to bring her back!" the woman's face smoothed out into a soft, almost caring, smile.

"_There are five fires floating upon a still lake,_" the woman said softly, her voice filling with affection as she stared up into the surprised, dark orbs of the strange man above her. "_There is the red flame, the blue flame, the black flame, the yellow flame and the violet flame. The red and blue flames die long before the spring is born. The yellow flame witnessed the spring's birth but dies soon after._

_The black flame watches as the spring grows but does nothing to strengthen it before he too dies. It is the violet flame that nurtures and raises the spring, turning the spring into something both loved and feared. The Violet flame protects the spring— though she is not alone._

_There is the lightning wolf, the crimson fox, the twisting shadows and the beautiful poisonous flowers; there is the monstrous bugs and the spirits of balance and one of animals. There are many guardians for the hidden spring—you will not find your love until it is too late. Will you still search for her?_"

"I will never give up," the man snarled at her

"_...then prepare for war,_" the woman sighed, closing her eyes in regret. "_For at the end, your love shall pass once more._"

"She will die?" he asked horrified, his dark eyes widening. "Again she will die? Can she not survive through even one war?"

"_She can survive..._" the woman murmured thoughtfully. "_But not with your influence... meeting you will only get her kille—_"

He snarled at that and removed the woman's head, never letting her finish her sentence.

He made a promise to protect her

He made a promise to keep her safe

"I will find you," he swore as he turned and marched away from the body of his sacrifice. "I swear I will protect you, Rin Nohara!"

_and awaken you memories in your new body, so that you will truely be alive in this world..._

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**Page 3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Nature's Trouble**

Chapter 2: Fighting the Sanin

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

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"Minato-kun are you alright?" Hiruzen asked as he stared curiously down at the blonde sprawled out on the ground. The young man blinked up at him doubly before placing a hand to his jaw tenderly, wincing slightly Minato slowly rose from the ground.

"I'm fine," Minato grumbled unconvincingly as he pulled his legs beneath himself kris-cross-apple-sauce style. His eyes immanently landed on the lowly crouching pinkette a few feet away, just beneath a large oak. Fallowing her line of sight, more specifically the direction where she was glaring hatefully, Minato blinked as he stared at Shikaku as he kneeled on the ground at the base of the oak tree; his shadow stretched out to connect with the tiny child's.

"Nara," the girl snarled at him, her eyes looking like kunai blades as she glared at the young heir. "Release me." She ordered, more like growled, at him. Shikaku's eyes narrowed at the girl, trying to glare back—sadly, it seemed like the girl had more practice then the young Nara heir.

"No," Shikaku replied bluntly. "Who are you? Why did you strike Minato?" the girl's eyes flashed as she glanced back at the blonde almost curiously, her eyes swiveled back to look at Shikaku and this time her eyes glowed with amusement and her lips twisted into a near predatory smirk. Minato could see Shikaku's confusion, his hand slipping into a new hand sign.

"Nice try," the girl hissed lowly, Minato had two seconds warning before he was forced to move as the earth beneath the girl suddenly exploded.

"Lord Hokage are you okay?" Minato asked as he landed just on the other side of the wall of white building he had landed behind, he was now closer to the front entrance of the hospital.

"I'm fine," Hiruzen reassured as he straightened and looked around the corner with Minato, only to see a flash of pink disappear over the next building's roof. Deciding it was safe enough; Hiruzen stepped out from behind his shield and approached the small crater left behind by the pinkette. Crouching next to the small indent, Hiruzen studied the dent in the earth surrounded with large jagged chunks of rock.

"Shikaku are you alright?" Minato called as he hurried over to his friend. Hiruzen looked up to see the young heir cradling his leg, a chunk of earth as long as his arm and as thin as his pinky was sticking out of it.

"I'm fine," Shikaku growled as he pushed himself up and glared at the rooftops. "I'll be right back." The brunet didn't wait for anyone to answer or even respond before he disappeared and started to roof hop quickly.

"Shikaku!" Minato called hurrying after his friend, leaving Hiruzen behind with the crater and his thoughts.

…

_Minato hadn't even completely left the girl's side before she turned and started to sprint away, she didn't get far before she lowered herself to the ground to dodge a few thrown kunai and shiriken. She growled up at the two chunin not far away from herself, however just as she was about to move, she found herself frozen in place._

"_Shadow paralysis jutsu complete," Shikaku mumbled as he stared at the lowly crouching child just feet away from him._

"_Shadow possession jutsu," the girl whispered to herself as she studied the shadow attached to her and the young Nara Heir, not seeing Shikaku's eyes widen slightly. "Average Time limit: Five minutes." Here the girl's eyes slowly locked onto Shikaku's, a smile twisting her lips as she continued to stare at him mockingly. "Strength: surprise capture. Weakness: Genin class—useless for a fight."_

"_How do you know that?" Shikaku asked his eyes wide with disbelief and fear. His thoughts clear on his face: 'if the enemy gets that kind of information, the Nara clan could be obliterated in the war'. It was about then that Minato actually seemed to regain his consciences that he lost temporarily. _

…

"Lord Hokage," Hiruzen didn't even glance at the team of Anbu who landed just behind him, worry tingeing their voices slightly. "What do you want us to do? She's evading the chunin and Jonin like they're standing still." Hiruzen's eyes narrowed further at the small crater before him, his eyes rising to stare almost curiously at the roof nearby.

"Capture her." Hiruzen, the Anbu team didn't even hesitate as they disappeared from sight—their agreement to the order barely heard as they raced away.

_Who are you child?_ Hiruzen thought as he straightened and glanced back at the room where the child had apparently jumped out of. Standing there in shocked silence were Minato's three genin, their eyes wide with shock and their faces unnaturally pale as they stared out over the rooftops of the village.

_Are you an enemy or an ally?_ Hiruzen thought to himself as he quickly made for the nearest roof for a better view of the chase. _Why were you given to us if you only seek to get away from us? What was the point of it all?_

If she was an enemy, she should have stayed in the hospital, waiting for an opportunity to strike from within the village it self. If she was an ally, she should have told them who she was and which village she hailed from. Yet the tiny child did none of the above. She ran away from them as if she had been caught behind enemy lines.

Did she not know that she had been given to them?

Did she not know that her caretaker had trusted her to Minato of all people?

Did she truly not know this?

How could she not have known about it?

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The chunin and what few Jonin there were hissed in displeasure as the small child continued to out maneuver them, easily sliding past them and ducking beneath their blows as if she knew just where to step, just were to duck—it was like fighting someone who possessed the Sharingan. Yet each team that confronted the girl were both relieved as they discovered the girl's eyes were nothing more then sharp glints of emerald and yet, each team was completely livid as the girl continued to evade them time and time again.

The Aburame bugs couldn't find her inhumanly low chakra (how could she even move?), the Hyūga couldn't seem to get a lock on her (it was scary seeing them so mad), the Akimichi couldn't get close to her, the Inuzuka couldn't track her, and three chunin of the famed Uchiha clan were having difficulties keeping up with her—it was as if she had fought all of them before and knew just how to counter them. She dodged the moving shadows with ease, seemingly gaining a new radar for the Nara clan. She stayed well out of range for any of the combined attaches from the Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clans. The only one who got even remotely close to her was Minato, and that was just twice—she had escaped his hands and hold both times, learning quickly to ovoid him at every coast; going so far as to substitute herself with another leaf nin just to get away from him.

The girl landed onto a crimson roof, two Inuzuka's over shooting their target (her) and landing two roofs in front of her with howls of outrage and fury. With a grin, the girl spun to go in a different direction—only she didn't get to finish her spin before she found herself frozen by one Nara while another trapped her with his shadow stitching; said shadows puncturing her wrists and ankles and wrapping tightly around her throat.

"Little girl you're going to answer my questions whether you like it or not." The small pinkette glanced to her right, where Shikaku kneeled panting softly, his shadow stitching once more connecting her to him—if only momentarily.

"If you don't do something with that leg, you going to die." The girl said steadily, as if she was commenting on the weather.

"How do you know about my clan's techniques?" Shikaku asked, trying to ignore the unease he felt growing in the pit of his stomach. "How do you know our weaknesses and strengths? Who taught you about us?"

"No one," snarled the pinkette, her cheeks pinking as the shadow that round around her neck tightened slightly. "Observation." Shikaku growled at the simple answers. The girl was barely even six years old, seven at most, how could she be so observant? No child was that smart—not even a Nara child or an Uchiha child. It was impossible for anyone to have such a fully developed brain at such a young age.

"Your lying." Shikaku snapped, his eyes blazing with fury; he ignored the shinobi that surrounded them, the Hyūga's and Yamanaka's at the ready. "Your too little to be in the war! How could you have so much experience as to memorize or even notice such a pattern in our attaches? Your—" laughter cut Shikaku's rant short, his eyes widened as the small girl captured by him and a relative of his started to chuckle and giggle before suddenly let out heartfelt laughter.

"For a solder," the girl chuckled, her face hidden by the breeze that lifted her hair. "Your pretty dumb, especially to think that war cares much for one's age."

The girl's expression shocked Shikaku so much that he lost control of his jutsu, his shadow stitches came undone and they retreated from the child as if she were acid to them. Although she was still bound by his relative, the girl made no move to mimic her earlier escape attempt. She continued to stare at Shikaku, her eyes alight with laugher and her lips twisted into a sneer—her face took on every bit of her voice's mockery and amusement at his lack of knowledge.

Minato was speechless as he landed beside Shikaku, he was already crouching and examining his friend's damaged leg. _Did no one else notice how she said 'solder' and not 'shinobi'?_

"Do you truly belief that no one sees you fighting? Do you truly think that while out on the battle field, no one sees you fighting for your life?" the girl asked her eyes hardening with each question. "Do you truly belief that while you fight in another's home, that there is no one there but you and your enemy? You, a fully grown man and shinobi of a hidden village, truly beliefs this?" Suddenly the girl laughed out, her shoulders shaking and her head thrown back—the young Nara that was still connected to her was starting to weaken, it wouldn't be long before she could free herself.

"And here I though the leaf knew of their actions better then anyone else!" the girl laughed out, unsettling the chunin and Jonin around her. "You all go stomping through small countries, sweeping through tiny villages and massacring all in your wake. Yet you all wonder how someone like me has learned so much? So much for a shinobi!" the girl grinned mockingly at Shikaku, as if he was to be blamed for her particular misfortune.

"You think that you can wipe out whole villages and not have to worry about the repercussions?" the girl snarled at him, her eyes glinting dangerously. "What a joke! For a Nara you pretty damn—" the girl didn't continue as something off in the distance captured her attention.

Minato watched wirily as the girl's eyes dilated, her face paled and then with her face twisting into outrage, confusion and hatred, the girl disappeared with another blast centered around her feet. Covering Shikaku quickly, Minato tried to find the strange child—hearing a battle cry had him snapping around back in the direction they had just came from. There he saw the pink haired girl encaging two shinobi at the same time, one of whom had long snowy hair and the other had long inky hair.

"Oh no," Minato groaned in frustration, he doubled checked Shikaku, who nodded for him to leave, before he dared to flash step towards the three fighting figures.

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"Die!" the pinkette screeched, her eyes blazing and her face twisted in anger. Orochimaru hissed as he dodged another strike, the roof below her immanently exploding and sending shrapnel everywhere, his one good hand was flung out to her almost immanently; a hundred snakes bursting from beneath his sleeve and wrapping around the girl. Every snake fell with hisses of pain, revealing the pinkette within their hold was glowing a faint blue hue, the glow faded as she turned to look at Orochimaru more directly.

"Who are you?" Jiraya shouted from the girl's other side. She didn't even look at him as she charged Orochimaru again, the diamond on the girl's forehead split open to form inky black vines that cascaded down her face and neck to disappear under her hospital garb.

"What the hell?!" Jiraya hollered out a the strangely hypnotizing sight, both young men could see the inky lines criss-cross over each joint of her arms and legs before they formed hollowed out diamonds on the tops of her feet and the backs of her hands. The inky lines weren't even finished moving into place before the girl was charging her black haired opponent.

As the strange girl continued to attach Orochimaru mercilessly, both men were quick to realize their mistake—the girl had given out her war cry to separate them, now she was targeting Orochimaru as if her life depended on it. One moment they were returning to the village and heading towards the hospital so that Orochimaru's arm could be looked at and the next moment they were dodging a tiny pink haired girl who seemed hell-bent on beating Orochimaru like a drum.

"Who are you?" Orochimaru called as he dodged another blue glowing palm strike, a chunk of his hair falling to the ground as he jumped away from the furious pinkette. "Why are you attaching me?"

"Because," the pinkette murmured as she straightened from her lunge and lowered herself into another stance. "You murmured my family." Orochimaru wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting, but that wasn't it; the girl's eyes were hard like stone and sharp like blades. Yet Orochimaru was positive about that furious glint in her eyes, that kind of anger—no, that hatred—couldn't be false, it couldn't be faked; this girl truly believed him to be some kind of monster that had killed her family.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Orochimaru replied with a confused expression and hard eyes. "I don't recall killing any families."

"Wouldn't doubt it," the girl snarled, her anger flashing in her emerald eyes dangerously. "I was still small enough to be hidden by my parent's bodies." The girl murmured she lowered herself into a deeper stance, her eyes suddenly glowing with her hatred.

"I remember my parents running from you, begging you to leave them be as they ran away." The girl continued. Orochimaru could see the tears of frustration in the corner of the girl's eyes, she really did belief that he was at fault for killing her parents. "They fought you with everything they had until you finally caught them, but even their begging didn't stop you! You killed them and even laughed about it!"

The small girl never noticed the black shadow that landed just behind her, before she could do anything the shadow struck out and she was collapsing as her world turned black. The Anbu was quick to catch the tiny child and Orochimaru and Jiraya were eager to approach the now harmless child. They watched in fascination as the inky black markings on her body slowly crawled back up her body and just as slowly spun into the center of forehead. It was only seconds after the markings disappeared that the violet diamond on her forehead returned and so did the girl's labored breathing, as if she had broken a rib or two.

"Do you have any clues as to what she's talking about?" Jiraya asked with a frown as he turned to look at his teammate.

"No," Orochimaru sighed heavily as he took a step back from the Anbu who quickly lifted the child into his arms. "I don't have a clue. No one's ever really begged me not to kill them and I don't typically chase after those who retreat from a fight with me unless it negatively affects whatever mission I'm on..."

Jiraya slowly nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah and we share nearly ninety percent of our missions, and I've never seen anyone with pink hair before..."

"I'll be taking her to Lord Hokage now," the Anbu member mumbled lowly, Orochimaru tried to ignore the strange feeling being silently assessed. Jiraya let out a sigh as the Anbu agent disappeared from sight with the tiny child in toe.

"Well that was defiantly new," Jiraya mumbled as he turned back to his teammate with a small grin. His smirk fell when he saw the concentrated look on Orochimaru's pale face, an expression made mostly of confusion but with a hint of fear in as well. "I guess we could see Sensei later if you want." Orochimaru blinked and looked up at his teammate curiously, as if asking the white haired man a question.

"Hay give me some credit!" Jiraya laughed at him, his smile stretching across his face impishly. "I'm curious to! She fought a lot like Tsunade-Hime!" Orochimaru seemed to take that into consideration before he nodded in agreement, his lips fighting to twitch into a grin of his own.

"I wonder who she is..." Orochimaru said softly as he turned and started for the hospital again, his teammate at his side.

"Hay don't sweet it!" Jiraya laughed as he fallowed after his teammate. "We'll get our answers soon enough!"

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"No." Hiruzen said the second he saw his two male students.

"What do you mean 'no'?!" Jiraya shouted his eyes wide as he stared at his teacher. "We haven't even said anything!"

"You don't need to," Hiruzen snorted as he stood from his desk and pulled his Hokage robs on. "I can tell with one look that you want to know about our newest visitor to the village."

"...Old man have you been looking that crystal ball of yours again?" Jiraya asked looking suspiciously at his teacher, Orochimaru sighed at his teammate as Hiruzen let out a soft chuckle.

"Minato properly told him what happened," Orochimaru commented as he placed his good arm on his hip, still annoyed that his dominate hand had to be in a cast for the next month.

"Really? You think so?" Jiraya asked blinking back at his teammate curiously, Orochimaru gave him a deadpan look.

"With all that moving around we did, how did you not notice the bright yellow flashes that moved around us?" Orochimaru asked lazily, his eyes studying Jiraya as if he was questioning Jiraya's sanity.

"hay—"

"He's running away," Orochimaru murmured before Jiraya could counter Orochimaru's question and facial expression. Jiraya snapped around to stare wide eyed at the open window.

"Oh no you don't!" Jiraya hollered as he took off after Hiruzen, determination glowing in his eyes. "Get back here old man!"

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**Thoughts are helpful**

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**Page 8**


	3. Chapter 3

**Nature's Trouble**

Chapter 3: interrogation tactic

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

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><p>…<p>

Hiruzen sighed as he jumped from roof to roof; he was hoping to use both of his student's argumentative tendencies to sneak out.

"Get back here!" Jiraya shouted out at the top of his lungs from behind him the quickly running Hokage. Hiruzen closed his eyes and sighed in irritation; looks like Orochimaru had seen through him once again. Without thinking, or caring for his student's bruised prides, Hiruzen created multiple clones, substituted with one and then flash stepped to the T&I building; knowing full well that he had finally lost his students in the middle of the village.

"That was suspiciously easy," Hiruzen mumbled as he walked into the dark building.

"What was easy?" Hiruzen nearly groaned at the smooth voice that came from just behind him. Turning Hiruzen glared half-heartedly at Orochimaru who was leaning against the wall beside the front doors of the interrogation building, a proud smirk had settled itself onto the pale boy's features.

"Sorry Sensei, did you want me to bring Jiraya?" Orochimaru asked innocently, his smile growing slightly. "Sorry but I figured you wanted to play with him for a little longer."

"No," Hiruzen sighed as he walked down a corridor to his left. "You do know that you won't be apart of the interrogation right?"

"Yes and frankly I'm just fine with that." Orochimaru said as he quickly placed himself behind his teacher's right side. "I've never seen anyone move that fast before—at least no one her age."

"Yes," Hiruzen agreed lowly as he took a hallway to his right. "I have yet to determine her age, I think she's at least six but she could be seven."

"You mean physically right?" Orochimaru asked with a raised eyebrow, "her mental age could be anywhere from a ten year old to a thirty year old." Hiruzen snorted and nodded his agreement.

"Most six year olds wouldn't even know what the word 'murder' is much less how to pronounce it." Orochimaru mused softly to himself before frowning and turning to look back at his teacher once more. "How did she even come into the village? Who brought her here?"

"Minato did," Hiruzen answered softly as he turned yet again. "She was given to him by a white eyed woman."

"A Hyūga girl?" Orochimaru asked with a frown, that didn't sound quit right; if a Hyūga wanted someone to protect one of their own, they'd send that person to the compound with the message—they were seriously over protective of their relatives and those close to them.

"Not innless Hyūga's suddenly have white hair." Hiruzen mumbled as he turned down another hallway and stopped before an Onex door. "Are you sure you want to be here for the questioning? I've heard what she accused you of."

"I'm sure," Orochimaru answered, bobbing his head. "I'm curious about her story and why she seems to think that _I'm_ responsible for her parent's death." Hiruzen stared at Orochimaru for a moment and after a minute went by, Orochimaru feared that his teacher would deny him the right to watch the interrogation.

"...no talking." Hiruzen said as he turned and entered the room swiftly, only to stop mid step in the middle of the doorway. "What are you doing here young lady?" Orochimaru blinked in confusion at the words, letting his curiosity get the better of him; Orochimaru looked in the dark observation room to see who his teacher was looking at.

"Orochimaru-sensei!" Orochimaru groaned at the tiny girl standing next to the glass of the observation room.

"Anko-chan" Hiruzen started in a disappointed sounding voice. "What are you doing here?" the little girl giggled up at him shyly, one finger scratching the side of her cheek.

"I wanted to know why she was here." Anko said softly, shifting uncomfortably as the two men continued to stare her down. "I heard she gave Sensei a run for his money..." Orochimaru let out an irritated sigh as he thumped his head against the open door way. "And I... I wanted to know why..."

"Anko-chan you shouldn't be in here," Hiruzen scolded with a pointed look at the young interrogator standing just behind her. "You might hear something you shouldn't—"

"_You can glare at me, you can touchier me and you even try to mind rape me, but I'm not goanna talk to you because your siding with the damn snake man_!" Hiruzen sighed as his head tilted down word slightly.

"Like that?" Anko asked with a sweet looking smile at the Hokage. "She's been sputtering a lot of stuff like that. She's pretty graphic for a little girl; a couple of the Anbu had to leave earlier so they could throw up."

"_Why do you want to kill Orochimaru-san?_" the ever-patient interrogator asked as he rubbed at his brow tiredly. Hiruzen sighed and stepped into the room, deciding that Orochimaru could argue with the girl. Orochimaru didn't even bother arguing with the girl, he just closed the door behind himself with a heavy sigh and a glare at Anko; who giggled up at him cheerfully.

"_I HATE snakes!_" Orochimaru and Anko both stiffened simultaneously, their eyes instantly locking onto the glass that separated them from the tiny pinkette. "_They're slimy and gross and aren't good for anything other then giving little kids nightmares_!"

"_Little kids like you_?"

_Snort_ "_maybe when I was little_"

_...Silence_

"_Littl__er_! _You know! when I was smaller_!" the girl huffed and crossed her arms, alarming the interrogator—her limbs were supposed to be retrained with chakra suppressant cuffs! "_This is why I hate snakes! They're all bad luck!_"

_SLAM!_

Hiruzen was instantly glaring at Orochimaru... said man was staring curiously at the swinging door.

"...That's the fastest I've ever seen her move..."

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No faster had the hate-filled words left her mouth had the door to the interrogation room slammed open. The pinkette's head was instantly snapped around to stare in wide-eyed curiosity at the small form standing in the doorway,

"Kichiyosei!" Anko screamed as she slammed a hand to the ground, instantly there was a puff of smoke. As soon as the air was clear again, the interrogator and the pinkette stared at the bundle of snake that slowly wound itself around Anko's body.

"Well?" Anko asked as she placed her hands on her hips, ignoring the snake as he crawled up her body. "Do you hate me too because I can summon snakes too?"

"No," the pinkette answered bluntly, looking unimpressed. "Because you're a girl." Anko nearly fell over at the blunt reply; the interrogator looked slightly curious at the bit of information and was glancing between the two underage girls deep in thought.

"I only hate the snake man, I could careless about _you_." The girl said before turning away and grumbling lowly to herself. "Even if we are the same."

"How are we the same?" Anko watching as the girl stiffened slightly, clearly she hadn't meant for Anko to hear that. The girl huffed and crossed her arms, glaring pointedly at the interrogator as she ignored Anko.

"Don't ignore me brat!" Anko shouted a bright flush crawling up her neck to settle on her cheeks, the snake lifted it's head from atop of Anko's and glared at the pinkette warningly. "How are we the same?!"

"...Because you've seen death too." the girl mumbled softly, deflating slightly. Anko jerked in surprise and the man sitting across from the pinkette was regarding Anko thoughtfully. "I can tell by the slight dullness in your eyes. You've witnessed someone dyeing before."

"...it was a long time ago," Anko grumbled lowly as she glared at the floor. The pink haired girl's head dipped, her hair covering her face as her eyes glanced over at Anko curiously. It was quiet in the room as the two children and the interrogator got lost in their thoughts, soon the man turned and stared at the class just behind him with a tilted head and forward eyebrows. The pinkette sighed and pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, Anko sighed and leaned heavily against the doorframe of the interrogation room.

Suddenly the interrogator snapped around and started writing on his note pad hurriedly, the action catching both of the girl's attention. They both watched him with wrapped attention and fascination as the man turned a page on his clipboard and continued without hesitance. Just as fast as he was writing the interrogator stood and hurried to the excite, he even stopped to press the clip board into Anko's hands.

"These are the questions you are to ask her, make sure to write down her answers." The man ordered her as he passed. "You're getting more answers from her then I have—good luck kid." With that the man walked out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. Anko and the girl stared at the door curiously before turned to look dumbly at each other.

"Was he supposed to say that in front of me?" the pinkette asked, her brows pinching together. "How does he know that I won't just give you a bad time just to get at him?"

"He doesn't" Anko sighed as she approached the table and sat across from the pinkette. "Well try not to give me too big of a headache."

"No promises!" the girl chimed with a giggle. "What's the first question?"

"Hmm," Anko glanced down at the paper and lifted an eyebrow. "What's your name?"

"Why is a grown man asking an underage girl her name?" the pinkette asked back with a mischievous grin, Anko snorted and moved on to the next question.

"How old are you?"

"Okay now I'm starting fear for my safety," the pinkette snickered out. "A fully grown man really shouldn't be asking a little girl such questions! It'll lead to misunderstandings!" it took Anko all of three seconds before she caught on and started to laugh just as heavily as the pinkette was.

"oh-okay," Anko giggled after a few minutes of laughing and nearly falling out of her chair. The only reason she stopped was because she felt her teacher's chakra burst just behind her in warning, Anko felt it and knew she was going to pay the price later. "Th-th (ha-ha) the n-next q-question—huh?" Anko had pulled her clipboard up to look at the next question, only to see that it wasn't in her hand any longer.

"Let's see," Anko looked up to see the giggling voice came from the pinkette, who was kneeling on the table just beside her. She was running her finger down the list of questions, she even turned the page to read the next ones—the action woke Anko up from her stupor.

"Hay!" Anko shouted jumping to her feet, she snatched the list of questions away from the pinkette with one hand while her other slapped the pinkette upside her head. "If it's not yours don't touch it!"

"Sorry," the girl grumbled, clearly not meaning it. Anko huffed and pointed at the seat were the younger should be, the girl looked at it and almost immanently a sly grin slid across her face.

"I'll sit in the weird chair if Anbu san will!" the girl declared pointing at the half-hidden Nin standing in the corner. Anko stared at the nin for a moment, half in shock and half in curiosity. She had known that other ninja had been in the room, for some reason the sight of the young man leaning against the far wall still surprised her.

"No," the man in question answered bluntly, the girl crossed her arms and glared childishly at him.

"Then I'm not going to sit in the chair _or_ answer any questions!"

Anko sighed and slumped in her chair, fighting the urge to rub at her temple. _Is this how Sensei feels when I act up?_

"Please Anbu-san? It's not like it'll kill you, it's just a chair." Anko said staring at the pouting child. Still the man didn't move and the strange girl's glare didn't lessen, nor did she move.

Two minuets went by... neither moved

Five minuets went by...Anko could feel the tension in the air like a physical weight

Ten minuets went by... and still neither moved or so much as twitched out of place, _Anko_ was tempted to speak up just make a sound

Twenty minuets went by...

"...You'll sit in the damn chair if I do?" the girl threw her arms up and cheered, it wasn't every day a little girl out waited an Anbu member. The man grumbled and took his team leaving his little corner, by the time he actually sat down in the chair; Anko was ready to start throwing things at him. The second his back touched the high back of the metal chair, cuffs that Anko hadn't seen when she walked in, reared up and snapped into place on the man's wrists, arms and even one around his neck.

The pink haired girl was laughing hysterically... on the floor. The pink haired girl was so amused that she had literally fallen from the tabletop laughing. Anko was trying very hard not to laugh, but she wasn't succeeding very well. She had to hide her face in the tabletop with her arms folded around her head protectively to hide her face as she fought her laughter. Anko could feel the man's glare as she huddled herself over the table top trying to hide her laughter—if she had to judge his amusement by the waves of killing intent that quite literally were rolling off of him, she knew that the man undoubtedly furious with them.

It really wasn't every day that someone out smarted a black ops Anbu member

"Release me," the man growled lowly, his eyes glancing down at the curled up ball of laughing pink mush. It was five minutes before the younger girl calmed down enough to pick herself up off the floor, but instead of releasing the Anbu from the chair; she climbed up into his lap and sat on him as if she was some kind of innocent angle. Anko wasn't sure if she should be amused or confused, she glanced down at her list of questions and found herself suddenly unwilling to read or ask them.

"This isn't in the list but I have a question for you." Anko said staring at the list just to avoid the curious gaze of the pinkette. "I would like it if you answered me truthfully, although I doubt I'd be able to tell if you were lying."

"You are trusting me to answer you truthfully?" the girl asked softly, her face pinching into confusion.

"Yes," Anko answered with a slow nod.

"...What is that you want to know?"

"Why did you try to escape the village, only turn around and attach my sensei?"

The was filled with an uneasy silence, much like the previous one, but this one was some how different. After waiting for maxim amount of silence, the longest she had ever been quite in her entire life, Anko finally looked up to see the younger girl's expression. She was surprised to find the girl actually lost in her own thoughts, like she was trying to recall her actions and then figure out the reasons behind them so that she could answer Anko. After another record-breaking silence for Anko, the pinkette finally looked up at Anko with an expression of fear, confusion and panic.

"I-I don't know." the girl whispered softly, tears threatening her eyes. "I woke up and I knew that I wasn't at home... and then I tried to remember were home was, but I couldn't... still can't..." the girl hissed and gripped tightly at her head, curling up in the Anbu's lap. "I-I panicked—home, I just want to go home."

"Hay easy there," Anko called out as she stood slowly, one hand reaching out the panicking girl. "Your goanna hurt yourself." As if on cue, Anko saw the girl's nails dig into her scalp and pulled at the skin and hair growing there—blood slowly started to trickle out of the tiny crescent wounds.

"Hay! Calm down!" Anko called out, at the same time the cuffs around the Anbu burst open and the young man was release; yet he didn't dare move.

"I want my Nii-san's," the girl mumbled, rocking herself back and forth. "I want my Nee-chan's and my uncles and aunts—I want Sensei—I want to go home!" with her last shout a wind burst from her and knocked Anko clear out of her seat, slamming her into the two way glass of the interrogation room; spider web cracks ruptured from beneath her and destroyed the mirror completely. Instantly the room's door was slammed open and Anko found herself in her sensei's arms being rushed down the hall and away from the interrogation room before she could even blink.

"Sensei," Anko called softly

"Shhh Anko, you need to rest." Orochimaru ordered as he burst from the interrogation building. "I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

"Please don't hurt her." Anko mumbled sleepily, Orochimaru glanced down at the girl in his arms curiously. "She's just scared and wants' her family. I know how that feels."

"...Anko did you figure something out about her?"

"Yeah... she's a scared little girl looking for her family." Anko answered tiredly. "She's only scared and she's acting out in the hopes of attracting her families' attention. So... Sensei _please_ don't hurt her..."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and pushed himself to move even faster towards the hospital—he was not going to let his only student to die because of some little twerp.

…

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><p>…<p>

**was this OCC? does it need to be fixed? what spelling errors did i make?**

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Flames are lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Page 8**


	4. Chapter 4

**Nature's Troubles**

Chapter 4: Memory flight risk

Koomahana

**I was to lazy to split it up so deal with the extra long chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

…

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><p>…<p>

Hiruzen felt bad for the Anbu was holding on tightly to the tiny child in his lap. The wind was sharp and strong and was still swirling around the girl protectively, it still pushed and slashed at the young man holding onto the pinkette but at the same time, it also held him close to the girl.

"Calm down!" the young shouted as he braced himself around the child who was wailing and screaming in his arms. "Calm down this instant or so help me—!" the man's mask suddenly broke, revealing furious blue orbs glaring down at the very shocked little girl still in his arms. As the tiny girl continued to stare in wide-eyed wonder at the young man clutching at her, she suddenly smiled and the wind that was rotating around her protectively was dispersed with a gentile gust.

"Nii-chan!" the girl screamed, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck while tears spilled from her eyes. "Nii-chan, Nii-chan," the girl chanted as she giggled and clung desperately to the shocked man in her arms. Minato blinked curiously at the child before he looked up bewildered at his Hokage and the team of Anbu that was half before him and half behind him.

"I'm glad you're not hurt," she whispered, her head thumping on to Minato's shoulder and her body relaxed against him. "I'm happy you're safe... Nii-chan..." Minato continued to blink in bewilderment, when he heard the soft snort of the child in his arms, Minato nearly jumped.

"Did she just?" Minato looked slightly panicked at his superior, Hiruzen was rubbing at his brow in a 'I'm-too-old-for-this-crap' kind of way.

"Yes Minato-kun," Hiruzen sighed as he turned for the door. "It would appear that she just fell asleep on you." Slowly Minato stood, trying his best not to wake the knocked out child still clinging to him desperately.

"...am I the only one weird-ed out by this?" one of the Anbu members asked curiously as they each stepped away from Minato and the very powerful child in his arms.

"No," Minato grumbled as he adjusted his hold on the child, trying to shift her weight into a more comfortable position for his arms. "Although I'm curious as to who this 'Nii-chan' she seems to think that I am."

"We'll have the answers soon enough." Hiruzen as he continued down the hall, further into the interrogation center. "I really don't like doing this to children... but..." the team of Anbu's and Minato all hurried after Hiruzen, Minato keeping a fare distance behind the older man just in case.

"Are you going to have someone go through her mind?" Minato asked curiously, Hiruzen sighed tiredly once more and nodded as if regretting the decision already.

"She says she can't remember," Hiruzen said thoughtfully. "Yet she claims that Orochimaru killed her family, none of it makes sense. Perhaps it's a case of mistaken identity; perhaps it's something else entirely. I don't like having so many unknowns, especially concerning such a powerful kunochi-to-be."

"...You think it's a bloodline limit?" one of the Anbu's asked thoughtfully. "I've never seen anything like that before..."

"Anything's possible," Hiruzen agreed with a slight frown. "Minato-kun, what was it that Rin-chan said about her again?"

"You mean when she was healing the girl?" Minato asked curiously, his brows tilting down ward slightly. "She said..." Suddenly Minato stilled and his eyes widened comically, the others in the hall quickly fallowed his example. "Rin said that she was Mother Nature's only child!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" a brunet Anbu member to Minato's left asked, his head tilting to the side.

"...it's possible..." Hiruzen spook up, he wasn't moving either and it was clear that he was thinking aloud. "It's possible... the girl just might be able to use all five elemental chakras... with little to no coast to her own reserves..."

"An affinity to all five of the elements?" Minato asked with wide eyes.

"Imposable!" a kunochi Anbu nearly shouted. "Everyone has at least one affinity to one of the elements! It's the one element closest to their chakra type! It's difficult for people to get even two elements under their belts, but all five?! They'd have to be on the same level as the sage of six paths! Their chakra signature alone would be enough to drive most people to their knees!"

"But if it's a bloodline..." one of the others grumbled thoughtfully. "There are hundreds if not thousands of different bloodlines in the world, and not all of them are well known. Most sound as if they've come from some fairytale or another..."

"If that's the case then..." Minato turned wide, almost terrified eyes onto his Hokage. "It's possible that the legends aren't just myths! They could be really, true stories!"

"There is a truth to every lie," another Anbu agent mumbled his agreement. "The same could be said for myths; something had to inspire those old folk tails."

"Oh heavens!" the kunochi grumbled attempting to rub at her forehead through her mask. "Then does that mean that the sage of six paths was—is real? And what about his dojutsu? Could someone really have it?"

"I'll have to speak to Jiraya..." Hiruzen sighed as he continued walking forward. "He did promise to tell me something interesting that he had come across in the land of rain..."

"But if it's a bloodline," Minato started as he started fallowing his superior again. "How has she been able to hide all these years? How has her clan? More importantly where did she come from?"

"Inoichi Yamanaka will find out," the Hokage said as he turned another corner.

"Inoichi?" looking like he wasn't sure of this decision. "What about his father? Surly he has more—"

"Inohi is dead," Hiruzen cut off the blond as he hurried down the hall, his eyes hardening as he went. "He got caught in the last attach. Inoichi is now head of his clan and thus the only one I could trust to go through the girls' mind." Hiruzen turned slightly to smile over his shoulder at Minato as he walked. "That and he's a good friend of yours, yes?" Minato blushed and nodded quickly.

"Good," Hiruzen smiled as he stopped before a door and turned to look back at Minato. "I'll take the girl in and get her set in." Hiruzen said as he held out his hands expectantly for the child, Minato nodded and tried to pull the girl from his body, blinking rapidly he tried again and again and again. After the sixth time of pushing at the child clinging to him, Minato threw his arms into the air and made an aggravated sound—the girl's weight barely budge from where she had, quite literally, wrapped herself around Minato. Hiruzen tried to hide his amusement but the look Minato shout him said he didn't hide quite well enough.

"Sorry Minato-kun, looks like you're going to be stuck with her for a while." Hiruzen gestured for Minato to go into the room, trying his best to hold back a snicker.

"Literally," one of the Anbu snickered, Minato reframed from reacting as he hurried into the room and quickly found a seat.

"Please tell me Inoichi is going to be here soon," Minato grumbled as he looked back at the Hokage.

Hiruzen smiled at him encouragingly...

And closed the door—_sneaky old man_

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

_"**Duck to your left!**" she felt the hand rip through her hair as she moved away_

_"**Don't let him touch you!**" she glanced up at the pale-eyed man just feet away from her, he moved towards her and she ducked under his first strike and slide between him and another chunin. How did she know that the boy was a chunin? What is a chunin?_

_"**Move! Drop to that roof!**" She ran and jumped, feeling the wind push at her back and making her move further then she could have ever thought was plausible._

_"**Look out for that shadow! Don't let them touch you!**" she twisted out of the way of another reaching shadow—why did that seem so familiar?_

_"**Look out! Get to that roof!**" she ducked and spun out the way of another pale eyed boy, she could feel the wind pushing at her, pulling her limbs just out of the way of the strike that was aimed for her elbow. She hissed at the pain that erupted up her arm, but she knew that the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been._

_"**Look out!**" She felt a gust push against her body, nearly flinging her out the way of another person who could enlarge their hands. In humanly large hands thrust between her and the pale-eyed boy, fingers brushing through the short ends of her hair._

_"**Spin to your right and jump!**" She barely even hesitated to fallow the orders of a voice that she couldn't tell were it was coming from. "**Don't worry! We'll catch you!**" she felt a push at her back and she leaped, did she make a mistake in trusting that strange voice?_

* * *

><p>A young man sighed as he pushed another memory to the side. That wasn't what he was looking for; he needed to go further back.<p>

* * *

><p><em>She had known that there was something wrong the moment she had woken up. She could hear multiple people whispering, as if they were worried about waking her; but she didn't recognize any of the voices. None of them were familiar. The only words she could make out were 'Hime' 'danger' and 'wounded'. Who was the 'Hime'? Why was she in danger? Was she wounded or was one of her guards wounded?<em>

_"**Wake up!**" a voice seemed to have screamed just feet away but it was muted and dulled, as if there was something blocking the voice from reaching her._

_"**Hime-sama wake up! You have to wake up!**" she had opened her eyes as she heard a new voice just above her; surprised Onex stared down at her. She didn't know why but she knew those eyes and she knew that she was in danger because the owner of those Onex orbs was going to hurt her._

* * *

><p>Long golden hair was swept up into a high ponytail and green-blue eyes glared at the familiar memory that was pushed aside for another. Yet again, that wasn't the memory he was searching for. The next memory started dark before it become slightly lighter and then suddenly there was a blinding light...<p>

* * *

><p><em>She heard the sounds of metal on metal, she could feel the short gasping breaths of the woman carrying her and she could feel the cold drizzle of a new rain just starting to fall on her. she felt the woman trip on something and heard her give out a startled cry, she could feel the wind rush around her as they fell and she felt the med splatter against her in a way that should have scared her—she should have been afraid, but she was so tiered.<em>

_"**It's alright sweet heart mommy has you**," slowly her eyes opened to star up at the familiar looking woman laying beside her. "**It's alright love, I'll protect you**." She smiled and snuggled in close to the woman who was holding her. She knew that the woman wasn't really her mother, but she saved her life countless times, had given her food when she didn't need to and had been with her long before she could really remember. She knew the woman wasn't her mother because the woman had long amber hair and matching eyes and her skin was paler then her own and the woman had a smaller diamond on her forehead then she did—their only similarity. She heard a sickly wet cough and then loud thud next to her; suddenly the sound of fighting was gone and she turned in curiosity. She felt the woman's arms tighten around her almost protectively, like she didn't want her to see, but she was curious—what happened to her father?_

_Just behind her was a heavily wounded man with short crimson locks, blood spilled from his mouth as he smiled tiredly at her. Her eyes widened in shock as she turned to look down at the woman still holding onto her, there were kunai and shuriken protruding from woman's back like a crude version of her skeleton._

_She gave out a loud cry, her hands flinging up to her mouth to hide the action. Her parents were dyeing and she was laying between them like they were still so strong to protect her from the monsters in the night. The man chuckled weakly and lifted one arm as he turned onto his side. She flinched as the blood soaked fingers patted the side of her head with affection._

_"**I'm so sorry Mesume**," the man whispered as he coughed again, more blood spilling forth and tainting the muddy ground with a sickly maroon. "**We didn't quite get to the safety zone, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you...**" the man's hand fell limp from where he was patting her head affectionately; she stared in horror at the slowly dyeing bodies on either side of her._

_"**How sweet**," a sicken sweet voice murmured in the steadily increasing rain, the voice literally sent shivers up her spine and made her hair stand on end. "**Even in death they wish to protect you, not that it really matters.**" She turned in petrified fear at the voice, there a tall man with long sweeping inky black hair stood. One sword in his right hand stained crimson, its handle was of two snakes curling around each other and on it's end was a small crimson cord with a small yellow stone. The man raised his right arm, his silver blade glinting in the lighting that struck nearby._

_"**You'll die either way!**" his arm slashed down word and she fell back words with a loud cry, his sword tore through her long mud and blood stained locks; cutting it free from her too small body. She shivered and whimpered as she tried to hide herself in her mother's body, the man grunted in agitation, noting how he had missed._

_"**You're a very lucky little girl**," the man grumbled as if disappointed, she sniffed and whimpered, trying desperately to hide between her parents as if they could still save her._

_"**That's right**," the woman said hoarsely as she tightened her arms around the child she raised, her lips brushing against the muddy locks of the frightened child._

_"**She is our...**" the man coughed as he pulled himself closer to his wife and child, his body aching and protesting with every inch he moved. "**Our... baby... our... lucky... girl...**" again the man coughed as he pushed his body to the max, trying desperately to shield his family with his body._

_"**Our lucky baby girl,**" the woman whispered, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as she tucked her child between her and her husband. The girl whimpered and cried as she stared terrified up at the man who had murdered her parents, said couple was covered her almost entirely with their own bodies._

_"**How cute**," the man sneered mockingly, his arm raising once more, as his eyes gleamed with a sadistic pleasure. "**Why so desperate to let her live? She'll die eventually. Might was well be now with you then latter when she's matured.**" His implications were lost on her, but not her parents. The couple glared up at the man with hatred, their arms tightening and their teeth grinding together. The man swung again and the girl whimpered as she braced herself for impact. She heard a loud 'ting' sound, like that of a sword breaking in two, and an angry, furious, howling. Slowly she opened her eyes once more, not sure if she should be relieved or afraid of the new development. Blinking she whipped at her eyes and sniffed, was that really what she saw?_

_She heard the wet chuckle of her father and turned as best she could to see him, the man was trying to chuckle, but only seemed to give himself more pain. Again with the blonde woman beside her, chuckled weakly, brushing her cheek against her daughter's._

_"**That's my girl**," the man whispered as he kissed her forehead. "**That's my lucky baby girl...**" the man's voice faded away and she was too afraid to cry out to him, to ask him not to leave her._

_"**Its okay love**," the woman whispered to her, her hand brushing back the muddy locks of the child she raised. "**We'll always be with you. So don't be afraid, we'll always... always... pro-prot-ect y... you...**" she didn't know what to say to that, she just closed her eyes and let sleep take her away from her suddenly hellish reality._

_Her only hope now was that she would wake to find herself with her parents again and that everything she had just witnessed was nothing more then some nightmare... or maybe she'd find them in the other world? The bright, warm and welcoming world that her mother often told her about each night she went to bed. That sounded nice, maybe she'd find that bright and warm place were there was enough food for everyone and then some, were war meant nothing and death was unheard of._

_Yes, that did sound nice... she wanted to wake up in this 'heaven' that her mother spoke so fondly of._

* * *

><p>Inoichi all but jerked out of the memory and damn near made himself lose control of his jutsu. He could feel his teeth grinding together and his hands clench together as tears pricked at his eyes. He knew the familiar burning in his chest; it was the same thing he felt when he saw his father get killed right in front of him—the feeling of hatred, desperation, regret and vengeance all rolled up into one dark feeling that ate at him until he got his vengeance.<p>

_Once more,_ Inoichi told himself, trying to calm himself down with the thought that his task was not yet completed. He had gone too far back, although painful, this wasn't the memory he was searching for; he needed this girl's name, age and the place she came from.

_Perhaps there are survivors yet._ Inoichi thought, noting how the one thought made him relax slightly. _Perhaps I can find out the place she's from, then I could tell Lord Hokage and maybe he'll send people there and save them..._

With this new hope lifting his aching heart and clearing his mind, Inoichi let out a heavy, depressed sigh and continued on with his given task.

* * *

><p><em>She could hear digging, like someone was pulling at the stone that surrounded her. Could someone have found them? No there was no reason for someone to save them... But then she felt someone warm touch her face and felt a new gust of air brush against her face and filling nose up with fresh, clean air.<em>

_"**I found them!**" that voice was boyish and too loud. She was trying to sleep; she was tiered and needed to sleep some more, maybe she could go back to sleep and return to that wonderful dream with her parents._

_"**Oh heavens!**" that voice was so soft and famine she wanted to open her eyes and see if it was her mother—but no, she was still tiered, she want to sleep and never wake up again. "**Are they...?**"_

_"**It appears so...**" that was a different voice from the first one that sounded it was deeper and older._

_"**But she's just a child!**" the woman sobbed out in distress,_

_"**That means nothing to the monster called war.**" the man sighed out, something was tickling her nose, she swore that if it didn't go away she'd—_

_"**Did she just?**" the woman asked in fearful hope, where they talking about her? did she do something?_

_"**I think so...**" the boy whispered, again something was tickling her nose. "**There! She did it again!**" oh so they were talking about her, why couldn't they leave her be?_

_"**Quickly now!**" the man ordered, she heard more hurried movement, like they were trying their best to unbury her. "**Be careful! She's just a baby...**" the man's voice drowned out as the sound moving stone and dirt over powered his voice. Then as suddenly as the first gust of wind that had awoken her, there was a careful pulling and gentle brushing. She wanted to pull away, she wanted to move and slap the grasping hands away from her; she wanted to die with her parents. Suddenly a sound vibrated through the air and the hands that were brushing and pulling at her froze for a second before with one great urgent tug, she was engulfed in warmth and yet she was still cold._

_"**Shhh,**" a gentile voice murmured to her as the person holding her pulled her closer to their chest. "**It's alright child, we'll protect you...**" once more her world darkened, but it was a different kind of darkness from her previous one. This one took away all sound, smell and feeling, this darkness made her feel almost numb._

* * *

><p>He sighed in relief, he had known that the girl would have been found eventually but it was comforting to know that someone had found her before she began to suffocate. However, that didn't really tell him the girl's name or age and it didn't really tell him where she came from. He had to find out where she was before she was found and given to Minato.<p>

* * *

><p><em>"<strong>Hello!<strong>" She flinched at the loud voice that was now echoing and bouncing around in her head like a bouncy ball. "**I know your awake,**" the childishly boyish voice sounded as if agitated. "**You've been awake for the past five minutes! Why don't react already...**"_

_"**That's enough Otsura-Kun,**" that familiar deep male voice called out softly. "**The girl needs to rest.**"_

_"**But Jiji! She's awake!**" the boy whined. "**She's been awake for-ever now!**"_

_"**Five minutes is not forever,**" another childish voice sounded softly, she could hear the soft rustling of clothing and other fabrics as the people around her moved. She heard the grown man give out a tiered sounding sigh as he moved away from her-them._

_"**Come along children,**" the man called out, the sound of a door opening echoed in her mind. "**Lets give the girl time to grieve.**"_

* * *

><p>He was starting to get a headache.<p>

Yes, he had gone too far back but now it seems as if he can't find the information that he's seeking, all he's getting now is sounds from the various memories, as if the girl refused to open her eyes. Should he just leave things as they are now? Should he report what he's found so far?

But he only found that a young man, who scarily looks like Orochimaru but isn't the young Sanin, had murdered the girl's parents and had intended to kill her too when the earth suddenly reared up and protected her at the last moment. Then at some later point the girl was saved by at least two adults and young boy and again at later point in time she had woken up to the voice of the young boy and another young boy and a grown man.

Inoichi sighed and rubbed at his temple before he dove back into the girl's memories. These two facts weren't enough; he had to find out more about the girl.

* * *

><p><em>"<strong>Why do you pretend to be a sleep?<strong>" a soft voice asked curiously, she could feel someone grip at her hand tightly, almost reassuringly. "**Everyone here is here to protect you. We'll never let any harm come to you—we'll protect you with our last dyeing breath.**" It was silent a moment as she thought about that statement. She knew that there were others around her, she could hear their soft breathing in the beds that surrounded her own; it must have been late if everyone was asleep._

_"**Why?**" She asked, her voice barely even a whisper. She felt the other child's hand tighten in surprise around her own. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at the child beside her. The boy beside her was a few years older then herself, with spiky yellow hair, nicely tanned skin, eyes that were as blue as the azure summer skies, and on each of his cheeks were three deep scars that almost looked like whisker marks._

_"**Why would you do something like that?**" She asked hoarsely, her voice having not been used in some time. "**What's the point of that? Why would you go for far for a stranger?**" The boy just stared at her in shock, as if he hadn't expected her to speak or to stare at him the way she was. But as soon as he realized that she had asked a few questions, it didn't take him long to answer her. A blinding smile split across his face making his scars stretch and his eyes closing in joy—the joyful expression made him look like a playful fox._

_"**Because your just like us!**" the boy said. "**You're like us but your different from us too. Your parents fought to keep you safe; they fought to keep you alive. That's why everyone here at Orphan village will protect you!**" Shock echoed through her, her eyes widening as she stared at the cheerful boy beside her. Slowly her eyes took in everything as she pulled herself up into a sitting position; the room was a large—large enough to house at least twenty bunk beds all long the walls with another doubled set running down the middle. Just how many children were in this room? Why was it called Orphan village? Did she really want those questions answered?_

_"**I don't understand...**" She whispered as she stared at the dozens and dozens of children all sleeping in their own tiny beds. "**Why is it called Orphan village? Didn't I hear grown ups earlier?**"_

_"**You did!**" the boy grinned at her, his smile shrinking slightly. "**You heard Jiji and his son. You see Jiji is the one that started this!**" here the boy waved his arm out to jester to everyone in the room. "**Jiji—**" suddenly a pillow flew inches past her nose and landed squarely into the blonde's face, shutting him up rather quickly._

_"**Shut up dobe,**" another boy's voice hissed into the dark of the room. "**People are trying to sleep.**" Turning she stared wide-eyed at the dark haired and Onex eyed boy laying in a bed to the left of her own._

_"**My name is Ekusa,**" the boy said as he yawned and rubbed at his eye tiredly, sleepily he pointed to the bed above him. "**And that's my Nii-tan Aohi.**" Then boy's head thumped against his pillow and he was asleep once more, the blonde had finally picked himself up the floor but didn't bother to retaliate to the other. Pouting he threw the pillow back at Ekusa, who caught it in his sleep and put it back under his head, he glared at the boy and quickly climbed into his own bed._

_"**My name is Otsura,**" the blond whispered as he tucked himself beneath his blankets. "**Tomorrow, if your willing,**" he added hurriedly, "**Teme and I will show you around and if you want to stay we'll take you to Jiji. He'll answer any and all of your questions.**" The boy smiled and closed his eyes, she watched amusedly as in seconds the boy was out cold. She looked around self curiously before nodding to herself and laid back down, readying herself for sleep._

_It's not like she had anywhere else to go_

* * *

><p><em>Orphan village?<em> Inoichi asked himself as he pulled himself out of the memory. Something sharp pulled at his heart and took everything he had not to picture what the village would have looked like, he'd be seeing it soon enough through the girl's eyes. Well at least he finally found out where the girl came from, at least it was a lead as to where she came from.

_Should I report now?_ Inoichi thought as he hovered in the child's mindscape. It seemed as if he had been there for days now, that was the draw back to doing mind readings; time ceased to exist in one's mindscape. He still didn't know the girl's name or her age, but did find out that someone with similar appearance to Orochimaru had murdered her parents and that she was saved and taken to a village called 'Orphan village' but that didn't tell him where the village actually located.

_Once more_, Inoichi thought as he took a deep breath and steadied himself. _Let's try this one more time..._

* * *

><p><em>"<strong>Hime look out!<strong>" She ducked under the swing; she felt more then heard the blade sweep through her hair, cutting off strands once more. She spun on her heal, rose her left leg and let her heal crash into her would-be-killer in the rib cage; crushing rib bones and sending bone fragments into his organs. The man gasped and coughed and she moved on, not waiting for him to steady himself, she had to find her boys._

_"**Hakoshi!**" she skidded to a halt at the name, her eyes widening as the crimson eyed girl swept forward and snatched her up as she ran. It was the name the villagers had given to her to honor her parent's last words to her and very few of the villagers truly used it._

_"**Aiko-nee,**" she called into the girl's shoulder, letting the older girl's short black curls swirl in and out of her eyesight. "**What's going on?**"_

_"**We're under attach.**" Aiko murmured as she ducked and swerved around the fighting that now plaque their village. "**Jiji has ordered us to hide as many of your little ones as we can.**"_

_"**We were tasked with you.**" She lifted her head up just enough to look towards someone else running beside Aiko. The crimson haired, caramel skinned girl grinned at her, she vaguely recalled her name being Hikaru. Just behind her was another older girl, this one with deep almost black purple hair with matching eyes and an unhealthily pale complexion, Nana if she recalled correctly._

_"**How many of us are left?**" she asked fearfully, she didn't want to ask the question, but she knew that she had to ask it. "**How many of us are forced to fight?**"_

_"**Many of our young have grown up today,**" was the not so happy answer. She felt Aiko tighten her hold on her legs and back. That could only mean that many of the adults were no longer there to protect them from the war, and those who were still training (like herself) were forced to fight to protect what little of their village was left._

_"**What about Otsura and Ekusa?**" she asked slowly, fearing the answer. "**Are they well?**" Aiko's hold was almost painful as she was shifted in the crimson-eyed girl's hold again. Felt them slide to a stop, Hikaru and Nana flying forward and kicking up dust as they battled the older shinobi that barged in on them. Aiko swung towards the half burnt down house and quickly stuffed her under the porch, she snatched up a nearby log and cast an illusion on it._

_"**Stay here princess,**" Aiko whispered, referring to Otsura's nickname for her to tell her just how serious she was, as she brushed some blood away from the girl's face. "**If your still you won't be found, you'll be safe. Just don't move.**"_

_She didn't get to say anything before the older girl took off running again, the piece of wood she now carried discussed like her. She hid under the burning house fearfully, it wasn't long before she saw the rain start up again and this time it was like one of the many water fights that she had seen as she grew up in this tiny little village. Water jutsu were thrashed around the village from ally and enemy alike. Either way she didn't have to worry about the house over her burning her to death, the flames went out rather quickly; although not before they reached up and consumed two enemies._

_She watched for an hour as the water, earth, and wind ruptured from the villagers as they each attached for everything they had. Water crawled up nana's arms as she used the like endless whips on her enemies. Wind burst from Aiko's palms as she struck out with various hand-to-hand strikes and then used her weapons to give her wind strikes some more reach; how devastating it was to see that with one sweep from her sword cut down an entire team in half. Hikaru danced around her enemies, giving deadly strikes from behind them as she took out man after man. Huge clouds of dust would rear up and protect her blind spots as she danced and evaded, nimbly dodging any serious wounds._

_Yet with all the power and strength that the elements had given to her fellow villagers, the enemy continued to drop down on them in endless wave after endless wave. She watched as eventually the fighting drifted away from her and she resorted to praying for her people, especially for her boys, to be safe and to make it out of this fight alive. Yet as even came, it became so dark she could barely see her own hand in front of her face, she found that for once her fellow villagers didn't win._

_As the darkness of night swept forward like some nightmarish blanket, torches steadily marched into the center of town. She stuffed her hand into her mouth to keep herself from crying out in despair. For once in all of the year that she had stayed and learned in the Orphan village, the village had finally lost a fight._

_A familiar looking black haired man stepped forward, his head turning to examine what little of the village was left, as if searching for something. He stepped forward, before the village's oldest member 'Jiji' the man who started the village, the man who had saved them, protected them, and taught them everything they had known._

_"**Come out, come out little Hime!**" the man called out mockingly, frantic whispers erupted from her villagers. "**I didn't lose half my force just for this measly little bunch!**"_

_"**She wouldn't dare!**" a voice cried out over the cry of the rain and wind that made up the steadily growing storm that surrounded them. She knew that voice as clear as she knew her own face._

_Otsura, she thought as she bit harshly down onto her hand, drawing blood._

_"**Hime wouldn't dare let us die for nothing!**" Otsura cried out into the air, his meaning clear even to her who could just barely make out his tiny form in the growing darkness. The dark haired man placed his hand on to the sword at his waist, seeming not hearing the blonde boy who continued to scream insults at him._

_"**Oh please, goddess of the land,**" She softly prayed allowed. "**Please don't take what little of a family that I have left. Please don't take them from me too.**"_

_"**I'm sorry...**" was the soft reply, she felt the wind twirl around her like fingers brushing through her hair. "**I'm so sorry...**" She really wanted to cry, she wanted to burst from her hiding place, she wanted to stand up and fight—but she made a promise._

_In one quick movement, the black haired man that had stolen her parents had removed Jiji's head. There was loud screaming and protesting from the few survivors of the village, but it wasn't long before they were ach silenced; the young women screaming in protest. The black haired man's words to her parents from the previous year, finally becoming understood as she watched what the men had done to her fellow kunochi's._

* * *

><p>Inoichi hissed and threw the memory aside, that wasn't something a child should have seen. No child should know what death was, not at her age. However, this tiny little girl had known that and more; she knew what could happen to a kunochi if she was captured alive by her enemies.<p>

_That's enough!_ Inoichi all but screamed to himself, he didn't want to know what else happened. It was bad enough that he'd be having nightmares about this event for a while.

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticism****is**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Page 14**


	5. Chapter 5

**Nature's ****Troubles**

Chapter 5: For Safety's sake

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

"Inoichi-kun," Hiruzen called softly, he had been waiting for over three hours for news and suddenly the young clan head had all but flung himself away from the sleeping child as if she had some kind of incurable disease. "Is everything alright?"

"No," Inoichi growled out, surprising the old man with the venom in his voice. "I didn't find out her name, just a couple of nicknames, and she's seven years old."

"Anything else?" Hiruzen asked hesitantly, he had never seen the blond so riled up in his entire life, not even when he witnessed his father's death.

"Too much," Inoichi grumbled crossing his legs under himself and glared hatefully down at the floor as if it was at fault for some great crime that was currently eating away at Inoichi.

"She needs to see a physiatrist." Inoichi continued lowly. "She watched her entire village get massacred and she saw—" Inoichi growled as he let his fist suddenly, and violently, collide with the floor, creating cracks and undoubtedly breaking his hand in the processes.

"...saw what?" Hiruzen asked softly. Inoichi turned away from his Hokage, tears prickling his eyes as swallowed his frustration to answer.

"...She knows what happens... to a captured kunochi..."

The pipe in Hiruzen's hand fell to the floor with a loud, echoing clatter, his eyes were too wide and he swore that he had never heard such a silence over take so many veteran shinobi in his entire life—not even on the battle field when they were collecting their wounded and dead.

The girl was seven years old and she already knew what happened to captured kunochi? Just where did she grow up? Yes, they were at war, but no sane hidden village would expose a child to that kind of possibility before they had even graduated the academy! That was typically something reserved for the final year, meant to drive out the weaker willed shinobi-in-training.

"I'm sorry," Minato whispered his eyes so wide that the blue of his pupils were nearly swallowed by the whites of his eyes. "I think I miss—"

"You didn't," Inoichi growled out, glaring at the blond. "And as for Orochimaru killing her family, turns out he has a rather heartless relative out there."

The blood drained from Hiruzen's face as he glanced worriedly at his student leaning against the wall by the door. Orochimaru's golden eyes were unnaturally large; his breathing was coming a little to fast, as if he was on the edge of hyperventilating. His hands were clenched so tightly against his arms that the fabric was about to tear and Hiruzen swore the boy would have bruises from the force of his fingers on his arms.

"The difference separating them is that the man's skin actually _has_ color," Inoichi continued, racking his unbroken hand through his bangs as he stared rather dully at the pink haired child still sleeping in Minato's arms and ignoring the dark look shot at him. "And that his eyes are blue, not gold, and he doesn't have the purple eye shadow—"

"For the last damn time it's not eye shadow." Orochimaru growled out with a glare at the blonde. Inoichi shrugged to show that he really didn't give a damn.

"—But other then that they could be twins." Orochimaru sighed as he took one hand and rubbed tiredly at the space between his eyes, this was not a problem he wanted to deal with; he had enough on his plate already.

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

Tsunade, Jiraya and Orochimaru were all visiting the dark haired man's only student; as such, they were all crowded into a single room together. Tsunade was hovering over Anko's back; her hands glowing as she slowly sealed the deep spider web like gashes. Jiraya was leaning against the window seal just behind Orochimaru, who was sitting in the only chair next to his student. Currently, Orochimaru had just relayed everything that Inoichi informed them of.

"She doesn't know her own name?" Anko asked from her hospital bed, Orochimaru shook his head, amazed that it that she had simple focused on the girl's lack of name and not everything else.

"No just a few nick names that were given to her by the villagers." The Jonin mumbled as he turned to lookout over the rising sun. "This isn't how I imagined being told that I still have family out there." He hadn't meant for his student to over hear him, he hadn't meant for _anyone_ to over hear him actually. To bad fate seemed to hate him.

"Ne~ Oro-kun we're your family!" Jiraya cackled as he messed up Orochimaru's hair purposefully. Orochimaru immanently swiped at his teammate's hand, swearing to cut off Jiraya's mane as vengeance.

"He didn't find anything strange with her mind?" Tsunade asked curiously. "He's sure that those memories weren't implanted?"

"He seems fairly adamant that they were real memories," Orochimaru replied, leaning back in his chair. "He was able to determine the approximate location of her village based on a few of her memories, but he can't determine the exact location."

"Where does he think she's from?" Jiraya asked curiously.

"He's not sure," Orochimaru sighed. "She was five when she lost her parents, six when she watched her village burn and now she's seven."

"Which means she's been on her own for the past year," Tsunade murmured as she straightened and whipped at her brow. "Where has she been this past year?" Orochimaru wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know, but one look at Tsunade's pinched face and Jiraya's thoughtful expression, told him that he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

"Whatever you two are planning, leave me out of it." Orochimaru ordered as he shifted to keep both of his teammates within sight.

"To late~" Jiraya sang with a mischievous grin. "We're all going on a mission~!"

"Not!" Orochimaru snapped, his brow twitching slightly. "My arm's not fully healed and Anko's still wounded."

"Orochimaru you underestimate me," Tsunade grinned and swept a hand out towards Anko's bare back that was completely healed, not even a hint of a mark. Anko grinned up at Orochimaru, her deep violet eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Now come over here so I can deal with your arm." The look in Tsunade's eyes glowed maliciously and her grin was just as mischievous as Jiraya's was.

Orochimaru decided that for the sake of his sanity, he'd run from his teammates and pray that they regained their sanity soon.

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

Minato sighed as he leaned back in his chair, the tiny pink haired girl still clung to him desperately as if she was afraid to let go of him. He had found her two days ago, curious and worried he had his students stay with her until she awoke; turned out she had spent her first day in Konoha in a coma. Her second day she spent both running from Konoha's shinobi and clinging to him desperately. She wasn't in interrogation long before Anko barged in looking like a furious imp. He was currently sitting in the Hokage's office, sitting against the far wall trying his best not to fall asleep out of boredom.

"I'm sorry Minato-kun," Hiruzen called out as he leaned back in his chair, a playful smile twitching to life on his face. "If you weren't so... tangled up" Minato turned a very unamused look towards the third, Hiruzen's smile grew and a dancing light entered his dark eyes. "I'd send you to search for the village."

"Did Inoichi finally pin point its location?" Minato asked with a frown.

"Not the exact location," Hiruzen sighed, his smile dropping. "He saw that the terrain was rocky but also had lots of vegetation around it. The village was actually made out of stone but because of the surrounding forest, many of the trees were actually a part of the buildings in the village; Not all of them, but a good portion of them.

"The weather was temperate, closer to our own." Hiruzen rubbed at his temple tiredly, not quite believing the information that Inoichi had given him, it all sounded as if it had simply came from some kind of fairy tail; but then so did the girl's abilities. "In spring, rain rarely stopped and was fogy and flooding until summer. Summer was so dry that striking two pieces of wood could make a spark and that it was so hot the majority of the village spent the season in the lake; rarely leaving it for anything more then the bathrooms and beds. Fall was as cold as it could get without snowing and sometimes it was colder. Winter was like summer but the temperatures were reversed, if anyone stayed out in it for longer then necessary, they could freeze to death. So instead of spending the majority of the season in their lake like they do for summer, the villagers spend their winters in the underground cavern that was filled with hundreds of hot springs."

"It sounds like some kind of fairytale," Minato murmured staring at Hiruzen curiously. "Shouldn't it be easy to find then?"

"No," Hiruzen snorted as if amused. "The trees of the forest are large, nearly the same height as our own. To make it worse the girl had never left the village boundaries. The closest she came was when she watched her parents get killed in front of her." Hiruzen sighed and glared at the paper work that he was supposed to be filling out instead of talking to his next in line, not that the boy knew that. "And then she was focused on her parents and the killer, not her surroundings. The only thing Inoichi could make out was that the surroundings that time were close to that of rain country, but he can't be sure. It was a long time ago and everything was foggy with only the man and her parents as clear images."

"So she lost her parents when she was five," Minato said thought fully. "And she lost her village when she was six. But she's seven now..."

Hiruzen sighed and nodded, knowing where the blond was going with his questionings; it was something he was wondering about as well. But he didn't want to send Inoichi back into the girl's mind, he needed time to calm down; hopefully by the time his hand healed completely he'd be stable enough to try again for that bit of information.

"Where has she been this past year?" Minato asked with a frown.

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

"_We just barely made it..._" a soft, feminine voice whispered. The wind brushed through a few tree's, twirling around their branches and playing with their leafs.

"_Thank goodness we were able to implant those memories_" another, gruffer, thicker and distinctly male voice sighed.

"_It has been a long time since we came across another gifted as she is._" There was a grunt and branches twisted against the gentle brush of the wind.

"_It's a few years too soon for her thou..._" this voice was childishly soft, like a teenage boy whispering nervously to his friend. Water splashed noisily against the bark of an old, ancient tree; darkening it's auburn bark into a midnight umber.

"_That is nothing we can't handle_." A sharp wind pushed against the gently flowing river, pushing back it's waves from the roots of the ancient tree.

"_...has all of the preparations been made?_" this voice was soft, like that of a tired mother seeking rest for the evening, only to see her children come upon her.

"_Sadly, yes..._" a soft dust cloud rose from the ground as the wind swept by playfully. "_The memories of the last spring child still reside within the earth. It was not hard to take them and give them to the newest spring child._"

"_When will we call to the child?_" the tired voice asked softly.

"_Perhaps when she next wakes..._" the child's voice suggested softly, shyly.

"_...perhaps..._" the whispery voice contemplated. "_But the Yamanaka-man is readying for another mind-walk..._"

"_Should we implant a few more memories?_" The deep and gruff voice asked, it was eerily silent as the other voices seemed to think on the matter.

"_Just a few..._" the whispery voice finally sighed, as if it didn't like the idea. "_We were tasked with protecting her... we can't implant all of them, just enough to satisfy them._"

"_What are they searching for now?_" the childish voice asked curiously.

"_Her placement for the past year..._" the whispery voice sounded softly. "_Why can't they leave well enough alone?_"

"_It is human nature to be curious_" the tired voice chuckled. "_Would you not be curious about her too if you were human?_"

"_Ah, but none of us are human,_" the older male sounded, his voice rumbling with a half-suppressed chuckle. "_We are the spirits that guide humans through life and protect them when and if we can._"

"_I still don't see why we can't just talk to her while she's resting..._" the childish voice pouted out, the river water shifting against the roots of the great tree and it's rocky confines. "_Isn't she stronger in her sleep then in her waking hours or was that reversed?_"

"_Yes, but not by much._" The whispery voice chuckled. "_The girl will need all the rest she can get. Do not forget, we are using her chakra, her life force, to help and protect her. Even if the majority of our actions are controlled by our own energy, we still need a bit of her own to complete our actions._"

"_So in other words,_" the childish voice piped up, it's voice filling with wonder and excitement. "_So long as we take a little of her chakra, we can protect her no matter what?_"

"_Yes little one,_" the tried voice sounded. "_We are the elements and we fallow the balance. Not many shinobi comprehend that—so they force us to do their bidding or make cheap imitations of us._"

"_The Shinobi's comprehension of 'Elemental ninjutsu' is sorely lacking._" The male voice chuckled out in amusement. "_But perhaps, that is a good thing..._"

"_Hai..._" the tired voice agreed softly. "_Not all humans are pure of heart._"

"_Only one is born every five hundred years._" the whispery voice sighed out in dejection.

"_She's a few years early, don't you think?_" the childish voice asked. "_Nearly a decade early..._"

"_Yes but something happens decades from now._" The tired voice replied softly. "_Something so horrendous, that we elements were forced to send a child on the brink of death; back in time in the hopes of saving the future._"

"_Did that wind give in any hints?_" the gruff voice asked.

"_Only that she is a key._" The whispery voice sighed. "_She is the key to either protecting everything... or destroying everything..._"

"_Her fate hasn't been decided?_" the gruff voice asked in surprise.

"_She has been traveling through too many times, too many diminutions._" The whispery voice replied. "_Her soul has been split and fractured. What we have here is only a small fraction of who she truly is._"

"_Where are the other fractions?_" the childish voice asked softly, unsurely. The whispery voice let out a soft, sad sigh; the gruff voice seemed thoughtful; but it was the tired voice that drew attention. Water splashed against it's earthen bindings, the wind brushing against the surface of the earth, the roots dug deeper into the soil as branches reached higher into the sky.

"_Tell us,_" three voices sounded together. "_Mother earth, tell us. Surly you know where the fractions of her soul are._"

"_Do not ask questions you are not ready to hear the answers too_" the tired voice sounded; making everything, everywhere silent and still—like the calm before the storm.

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticism****is**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**What do you want to see for the next chapter? Should it be a time skip?**

**Page 7**


	6. Chapter 6

**Nature's Troubles**

Chapter 6: For Safety's sake

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are memories_

…

* * *

><p>…<p>

"Inoichi-kun are you well?" the blond sputtered and coughed, the coffee he was drinking flew out of his mouth to collide with the face of a co-worker.

"Ho-Hokage-sama!" Inoichi sputtered as he covered his face with a napkin. "W-what are y-you doing here?"

The Hokage chuckled good naturally, ignoring the two grown men standing uncomfortably behind him. Inoichi blinked dumbly at the older male before he turned to study the two men standing behind him, Minato looked like he hadn't slept (or showered) for two days and was trying to use the pink haired child in his arms as a shield. Orochimaru looked like he was waiting for someone to jump out and tackle him, his eyes hadn't yet stopped examining the room since he entered. He appeared to be ignoring Minato's attempt at using the pink haired child as a shield between the two of them.

"H-Hokage-sama?" Inoichi questioned, blinking dumbly at Hiruzen.

"Minato-kun wanted to go on the mission to search for the girl's home," Hiruzen sighed, slumping his shoulders. "Orochimaru-kun is avoiding his teammates."

"So... Minato is fallowing you in the hopes of getting information about the girl's home that much sooner, right?" Inoichi asked, reexamining his friend curiously before he turned to look at the pale man beside the blonde. "And Orochimaru-sama is using Hokage-sama as a shield against his teammates?"

"Yes," Hiruzen agreed, not looking pleased but not angry about it either.

"I'm not going to have to house either one of them am I?" Inoichi asked, his eyes swinging back and forth between the two (now) glaring males.

"Oh heavens no," Hiruzen chuckled. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Both men looked flabbergasted at Hiruzen, their moths open and their eyes wide. "I just wanted to see if you could try again with the girl."

"I could try," Inoichi answered dejectedly. "What is it that you want to know?"

"Could you passably try and see where she's been for the past year?" Hiruzen asked, turning to look at the still sleeping child clinging to Minato like a lifeline. "We noticed the inconsistency and were curious."

"I could try but I don't think it's going to end very well," Inoichi answered rising from his seat. "When I stopped to think of everything I learned from her memories, I recalled something that might be of importance."

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked curiously, watching as Inoichi shifted uncomfortably and bit at his lip uncertainly.

"P-perhaps we should go to your office?" Inoichi asked, sensing his hesitance and a possible secret, Hiruzen nodded and quickly retreated from the interrogation building to return to his office. Orochimaru and Minato fallowing close behind in curiosity; only to get kicked out of the office when they arrived—by Inoichi.

"What's so important that you kicked them out?" Hiruzen thought as he settled behind his desk, he was amused by the looks on the two men's faces but was immensely curious by Inoichi's sudden secrecy.

"Is it possible to sound proof the room?" Inoichi asked, ringing his fingers together.

"Whatever for?" Hiruzen asked with a frown, not liking where the blonde was going with this. "What is that you recalled?"

"Well I think Minato was right about suspecting a blood line," Inoichi answered looking urgently at Hiruzen. "Can you please sound proof the room?" Hiruzen stared at the blond with narrowed suspicious eyes, after staring at the blond for a good minute and a half, Hiruzen raised a hand and dismissed his Anbu guard.

"Does that help?" Hiruzen asked, his face blank as he studied the blond. Inoichi's fingers continued to twist together almost painfully and after a moment of thought (and biting his lip unconsciously), Inoichi finally nodded.

"It'll have to do," Inoichi answered, taking in a deep breathe as if in preparation to reveal a deep and dark secret. In seconds, really it was the fasted he had ever explained anything in his entire life, Inoichi spilled everything he remembered about the first memory he came accurse. By the end, nearly an hour later, Hiruzen was pale like a ghost and speechless.

"Are you sure... she's—she's not..." Hiruzen started softly, his dark eyes wide as if he was looking for a punch line to a bad joke. "Schizophrenic... or delusional?"

"Schizophrenics are often unaware of the reality around them and are only aware of the reality that they see, hear and feel—the one their own mind creates. You can actually see the difference in Schizophrenics, especially when they're having an episode." Inoichi replied, as if he didn't like the explanation any better then the Sandaime did. "As for her being delusional, well she's not that either. One of the voice's she heard had warned her about the 'chunin' she doesn't even know what a 'chunin' is; I recall her wondering what it was. She doesn't even know what a Hyūga is, even though another voice named Hizashi, she still didn't understand."

"Dose she know what the voices are?" Hiruzen asked shaken, fearing the worst. If she could not only control the elements, and consequently the sub elements, but also the element's 'voices'. What would that make her? They only thought that the elements _might_ be tied into some kind of bloodline that she '_might'_ have. It was all theory with that girl! No one really knew if she could control the elements, they just knew that the wind seemed to have a unique fascination with her.

"As far as I can tell from her memories," Inoichi hesitated, going so far as to look at the floor and chew on his lip uncertainly. "The voices... the voices seemed to sound simultaneously with the movement of the wind..."

Hiruzen burst to his feet, his pip laying forgotten on his desk, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly as he stared wide eyed at the blonde in front of him. Every time Hiruzen tried to speak, his voice came out high and squeaky, it took several minutes of deep calming breaths before Hiruzen was calm enough to speak without his voice cracking

"Are you... are you telling me," Hiruzen paused, his voice dropping lowly into a faint whisper. "She can—she can actually hear the_ elements_?"

"At least she can hear the voice of the wind," Inoichi amended just as soft spoken as his Hokage; Hiruzen slumped into his seat, his eyes wide with wonder and something that almost looked like fear. But the Sandaime couldn't be afraid of the girl, could he? He wouldn't actually try to harm her, would he? The other villages would actively use and manipulate the girl into a perfect weapon to use against them; the Sandaime knew the importance of children having a child hood. He wouldn't try to turn the girl into a weapon would he? He really wouldn't try to harm her, would he?

"It was the only one that I could tell that was actively interfering with her escape and the attacks of our shinobi." Inoichi continued, hoping that his words were at least a little comforting to his Hokage. "It's passable that the wind is mealy reacting protectively around her without her consent..." that seemed to make a light bulb in light up behind Hiruzen's eyes, understanding filled his dark orbs and his face smoothed out in relief and his lips twisted into a humorless smile.

"Lord Hokage?" Inoichi questioned softly, "What is it?"

"What you just said doesn't leave this room." Hiruzen ordered as he stood again, stepping out from around his desk and approaching a near by closet. "If anyone asks, especially Minato and Orochimaru, just tell them that you figured out that the girl really dose have a blood line. But limit it only to the wind; we truly don't know if she can use the others, understood?"

"Yes sire," Inoichi nodded and watched as Hiruzen hung up his robe and hat, standing in nothing more then his black training cloths, even his headband was resting soundly on his forehead proudly. "Lord Hokage, where are you going? Why did you remove your robes?"

"I'm just off to visit an old friend," Hiruzen said with a sad smile, his dark eyes softening. "It's been a while since I've last spoken to her..."

"I see," Inoichi murmured with a bow and silently turned to leave the office, noting how Hiruzen leaped from the window instead of taking to the door. Yes, Inoichi was curious as to who this 'friend' was but he knew better then to question his Hokage. Inoichi opened the door and jumped back at the same time that Minato did, his extra charge slowing him down just a bit.

"Minato were you listening in?" Inoichi asked with a narrowed eyed look at his fellow blond as he closed the office door behind him.

"Nope," Minato lied easily, a smile twisting his lips cheerfully.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to go visit with or something?" Inoichi asked with a smirk, knowing he hit a nerve.

"I need a bath," Minato grumbled in response, his cheerful attitude immanently plummeting into depression. "I can't even walk down the street without everyone looking at me in curiosity and disgust. I know I smell but it's only been two days, I can't be that bad."

"Believe me, your that bad and worse," Orochimaru shot at Minato, enjoying the younger boy's discomfort a little too much. "What did you discus with sensei?"

"Just that we figured a part of the girl out," Inoichi answered, turning to walk down the hall and out of the building. "We've figured out that she just might have a bloodline, but we're not positive about it. So far we've gathered that her chakra lash's out when she's overly emotional, if she looses control her chakra gathers into the air around her and creates a current."

"So her chakra type is air?" Minato asked as he quickly fallowed after Inoichi curiously. "That's pretty damn rare Inoichi. There are only three in the entire village who have that chakra type: Kushina Uzumaki, Asuma (Hokage-sama's son) and myself."

"Well now this village has acquired a forth wind user," Inoichi replied with a soft smile at the still sleeping pinkette. "With luck we'll be able to keep her too; she's been running too long."

"Did you figure something else out?" Orochimaru asked curiously

"Only that she's been on the run this past year," Inoichi sighed. "Or at least, she's been running since the destruction of her village."

"Oh yeah that reminds me," Minato interjected before Orochimaru could reply. "What was the name of her village?" Inoichi paused by a window, his expression sad and his eyes distant as he stared out over Konoha.

_The snow was thick on the ground and air was too cold to breath in, it burned her chest. But she walked on, despite the pain in her chest and the aching in her extremities, she walked on. She had a message to deliver and she wasn't about to pass out in the snow and get someone else in trouble because she took a wrong turn. She survived the death of her parents, she could survive this._

"Orphan village," Inoichi said softly, refusing to let the girl's memory over ride him. "It was nick-named 'Orphan village'. Everyone in it were orphans."

Both Orochimaru and Minato were orphans and although they hadn't witnessed their parent's deaths, that didn't make the pain less painful. They wouldn't question Inoichi further, 'Orphan' was a taboo word for them.

…

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><p>…<p>

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticisms**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Page 6**


	7. Chapter 7

**Nature's Troubles**

Chapter 7: remembering the first meeting

Koomahana

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are __flashbacks_

…

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><p>…<p>

Hiruzen landed upon the Hokage monument mountain, he didn't turn to look back at his village and he didn't turn to head towards the Anbu head quarters nearby. No, he took off straight back from the village, crossing the mountainous train with labored breaths and aching joins, but still crossing it as fast as he had once so long ago.

"_I'll race you to the other side Hiruzen!"_

Yes, it was a very long time ago

Hiruzen took a deep breath and let his memories finally pull over him.

…

"_Come on slow poke!" Hiruzen laughed at his friend, the black haired boy had literally ran straight through a hornet nest. Hiruzen was quick to fallow after his friend when the angry insects turned their attention on him._

"_Damn you Danzo!" Hiruzen half cursed and half laughed at his friend. "Did you have to run through their nest?"_

"_I didn't run through their nest!" Danzo shot back at him irritated. "Their nest dropped on my face!"_

"_Too bad they can't make you any less ugly," Hiruzen mumbled as he raced through the trees, trying to get the angry insects away from him. Danzo growled at Hiruzen and pushed himself even faster, making Hiruzen push himself to keep up. It would be hours before the bee's stopped chasing them, by then it was getting dark and both boys were unfamiliar with their sudden surroundings._

"_Did you just get us lost?" Hiruzen asked with a smirk at his black haired friend._

"_Don't blame it on me!" Danzo snapped out as he continued to walk through the forest, "I'm not the one who was carrying half the damn nest with him!"_

"_I didn't know they were in my hair!" Hiruzen defended himself angrily, "How was I supposed to know that some of the nest landed on me? You're the one who ran straight through it!"_

"_Whatever, let's just find some place to camp out tonight." Danzo sighed, rubbing at his swore and swollen cheek. "I thought Mito-sama hit hard but those bees just might have out punched even her."_

"_You've been punched my Mito-sama?" Hiruzen asked loudly as he examined his surroundings, amusement lazing his words. "I've never seen her lose her temper before, how'd you manage to pull it off?"_

"_You don't want to know," Danzo replied bluntly, turning away from his friend. "Hay I think I see a cave!"_

"_Out here?" Hiruzen asked as he fallowed after Danzo hesitantly, "All I see are trees. How did you find a cave—" Just a dozen feet from them and well covered by the tree's and bushes, sat a small mound with stone steps leading down into it. It looked more like someone's round hut then a cave._

"_Sorry Hiru, what was that?" Danzo asked innocently, a smug smirk stretching accrues his dark cheeks. _

"_I told you not to call me that!" Hiruzen snapped aiming a punch at his friend. Danzo laughed as he dogged the strike, only to slip on some moss and ended up tumbling down the stairs into the hut._

"_Danzo!" Hiruzen called as he fallowed after his friend, making sure to avoid anything wet and slippery. "Danzo are you okay?" a pained grown answered Hiruzen, nervously Hiruzen stepped slowly into the hut, not liking how dark it was inside. "Danzo—ahh!" Hiruzen screamed as he was sent off his feet and slid across the surprisingly steep and slippery floor of the hut. Hiruzen screamed as he continued to slide down the floor that quickly turned into a slide, crashing into Danzo while he was it and sent the both of them deeper into the hut then they had originally intended to._

"_Hiruzen you klutz!" Danzo snapped out as they slide down and deeper into the earth. "Did you have to hit me?!"_

"_I was trying to see if you were okay!" Hiruzen shouted his eyes wide as he clutched onto his friend for dear life._

"_I was doing just fine before you crashed into m—!" Danzo was cut off as a splash of water barreled into his mouth, cutting off his retort to Hiruzen. He felt a little better when he heard the boy behind cough and sputter when the water hit him too._

"_Where did this water come from?!" Danzo asked loudly, not really expecting an answer from Hiruzen. Hiruzen was silent for a moment as he searched for something to slow down their decent, really anything would do at this point, but it was as if whatever he touched just made the both of them faster._

"_Danzo do you see that ahead of us?" Hiruzen suddenly asked, his voice shaking as his eyes widened just a little further. Far ahead of them was a tiny white light about the size of a needle prick and as the seconds passed, the tiny white light seemed to grow ever so slightly._

"_Are you just now noticing it?!" Danzo shouted, his hands bracing behind him as he tried to slow them both down._

…

Hiruzen blinked as he grabbed a branch and flung himself higher into the air, he spun and landed on another branch and took off again. His movements no longer jerky and screaming of old age, they now flowed gracefully like they once did when he was young. He didn't need to look to know that someone was fallowing him, he didn't need to turn towards that dark shadow and he didn't need to probe it either.

He grew up with that chakra signature and was familiar with it as he was with his own

"It has been a long time, Hiru." A deep voice sounded from beside him, but Hiruzen wasn't concerned or even surprised.

"Hello, old friend," Hiruzen greeted the rushing figure beside him easily, a smile twisting his face into a boyish look. "I told you not to call me that."

When the man beside him smiled back at him, Hiruzen felt that at that moment, he could see the boy he grew up with, and it was at that moment that Hiruzen didn't feel like the seventy-year-old man that he was. No, at that moment, Hiruzen was an eleven-year-old boy running through the highest trees of his home with his best friend—Danzo

…

"_How long do you think this tunnel is?" Hiruzen asked as he gave up for searching something to slow them down._

"_I don't know and I'm not entirely sure I want to know." Danzo snapped our irritated, "I just want to get home!"_

"_I don't think we're going home," Hiruzen replied as he leaned forward and thrust his arm in front of his friend to point ahead of them. "That light just grew ten fold! I think we're getting out!"_

"_Don't scream in my ear!"_

"_I didn't scream!" Hiruzen shouted in Danzo's ear, irritating the black haired boy further. "Watch out!" Hiruzen screamed as he leaned back and dug his fingers into the stone slide, Danzo mimicking him only to realize that the water's speed picked up and neither one of them could get a good grip on the stone slide._

"_I don't think we're going to get out of this one unharmed!" Danzo shouted, leaning back into his friend and grinding his feet into the stone beneath him._

"_What made you guess?!" Hiruzen asked loudly as they both burst from the tunnel and into the light that they had been heading towards for what felt like two hours. Both boys screamed as they scrambled in mid air before the plummeted into a pool a good fifty feet below them, they both swam to the surface and proceeded to both gasp for air and yell at each other._

"_If you—"_

"_Shut up already!" Danzo snapped splashing water into his friend's face. "Let's just find a way out of... here..." Danzo's voice trailed off as he looked around himself with wide eyes and a pale face. Sighing, Hiruzen turned to examine what had captured his friend's attention and found himself freezing at the sight; he had to remind himself to keep swimming so that he wouldn't drown._

_They were far beneath the earth's crust, where water and fire were nearly one and the same, where the Onex stone of the earth shone with a millions and millions of tiny white stars. The silkily smooth dark surface of the water that they floated, in gave the large dark canyon a look of an endless night sky._

_As if, they were floating amongst the stars_

_A place too beautiful to destroy, to ignore, to believe in anything that wasn't positive and peaceful._

_... A place that couldn't be described and could only be experienced_

…

Hiruzen landed in small clearing, Danzo landing beside him, together they approached the familiar grass covered round earthen hut with stone staircase leading down into. Together they stepped down the stairs and calmly entered the darkness beyond them.

…

"_Whoa," Hiruzen's soft voice sounded, so soft that it shouldn't have been heard, yet it ruffled the water's surface revealing glowing creatures. Blinking in wonderment, Hiruzen examined his body beneath the dark waters and saw, to his amazement, that wherever the water was disturbed, it glowed. Looking closely, he saw what looked like tiny dust particles in the water. Whatever it was, it left behind a beautiful sight._

"_Hiruzen," Danzo called softly, his voice barely heard in the great darkness of the seemingly endless canyon. The young man still floating in the water turned to see his friend offering a hand to him from what appeared to be land; Hiruzen smiled and quietly made his way over to his friend. Danzo helped Hiruzen out of the water and together they both ringed the glowing water from their clothing. Once that was done, the two put their cloths back on in the darkness, hoping that they were at least half way decent (and in their own cloths)._

"_What now?" Hiruzen asked softly turning to where he could barely make out the out line of his friend._

"_I don't know," Danzo murmured, Hiruzen could all but see the frown on Danzo's face. "I can't sense anything, can you?"_

"_No," Hiruzen sighed, his sensei's lesson on chakra sensing coming to mind. "I can't feel anything, I can barely feel you." Which was strange because his friend's chakra was strong before they entered the hut; after that, Hiruzen was too busy to concentrate on Danzo's chakra signature._

"_That's lovely," Danzo grumbled lowly, sarcastically. "Well, the water has to let out somewhere, want to fallow it?"_

"_We'll have better luck fallowing it then trying to go up river," Hiruzen replied eyeing the direction they had possibly came from. Even with the tiny white dots surrounding them, he could barely make out the pool of water they had landed in, much less the whole they burst out from; they couldn't retrace their steps if they tried, it was too dark._

_Sighing Danzo turned to start fallowing the river, he heard Hiruzen turn to fallow_

…

"It's been too long sense we came here last," Danzo murmured as he and Hiruzen both went sailing down the stone water slide, their eyes already adjusting to the darkness that surrounded them.

"Glade to know nothing's changed," Hiruzen said patting Danzo's shoulder, laugher echoing in his voice and a smirk twisting his face

"You pushed me on purpose," Danzo growled out in irritation, one brow ticking wildly at the reminder of their entrance to the tunnel. Once again, Danzo had ended up spiraling out of control and went sailing down the water slide in a near perfect replication of how he first went through the tunnel.

"Well..." Hiruzen's voice was filled with amusement, making Danzo narrow his eye at the unbroken darkness ahead of him. "I can not deny nor can I conf—don't pinch me damn it! That hurts!"

…

"_That wasn't there before was it?" Hiruzen asked as he stared dully at the two wide glowing lines on the ground. One was bright crimson and the other was a bright lime green, both stretching off in to the distance with the perfect amount of distance between them._

"_No it wasn't," Danzo murmured as he stared at the green line that he had accidently stepped on, it had only lit up once he stepped on it. Which in turn had made Danzo stop walking, which made Hiruzen bump into him and consequently, Hiruzen had ended up stepping on the red line, which started to glow the second his foot touched it._

"_Should we fallow them?" Hiruzen asked as he studied his crimson line a little more closely_

"_I guess we don't have much of choice," Danzo answered, glade that the two lines gave off enough light to light up the both of them. "They don't seem to be too long, but at least it's a steady line to fallow."_

"_Great, let's fallow them!" Hiruzen shouted with a grin and took off down the crimson line laughing._

"_Hay, don't run!" Danzo shouted as he quickly fallowed after Hiruzen, catching up easily. "You don't want to trip, idiot!"_

"_Oh relax!" Hiruzen shouted as he glanced beside him, only to see Danzo had tripped and face planted the ground. Hiruzen showed no mercy as he stopped running to point and laugh at Danzo instead, after he was done chuckling he offered Danzo a hand up, noting how the glowing line was no prominently stationed on his friend's face._

"_Quite laughing already, dub." Danzo growled as he pushed himself up and used Hiruzen's wider sleeve to whip the green dust from his face._

"_I'm not laughing," Hiruzen replied, amusement lacing his words. "And I'm not your personal hanky!"_

"_Really? Then why is there a green stripe on your sleeve?" Danzo asked as he resumed walking, Hiruzen fallowing him easily._

…

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><p>…<p>

"We've finally arrived," Hiruzen grumbled as he landed on a familiar pool of water in a familiar canyon. "Was it just me or did that trip seem longer then normal?"

"It's just you," Danzo replied walking forward to the black stone that he walked on when he first arrived. "You did fall asleep five minutes in after all."

"Did not!" Hiruzen snapped as he hurried after Danzo, eager to return to the path they had both taken as children so long ago.

…

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><p>…<p>

"_Hay Danzo," Hiruzen called out softly as he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes locked onto the lines at his feet. "They've ended."_

"_Yeah," Danzo murmured eyeing were the green and red lines suddenly stopped and separated. The red line took a hard right and faded off into the darkness where Danzo couldn't see, but the green line..._

_The green line split in two_

_Danzo fallowed the duller and closer green line with his eyes, noting how it was straight for a few dozen feet before it ended with frayed edges at nothing. Narrowing his eyes, Danzo stared at that spot for a moment before he looked to see what surrounded it. When he caught sight at the end of the line, Danzo gasped and stepped back from it hurriedly._

_At the end of the closer and duller frayed green line, stood a tall old man with half his face bandaged, he had one arm that was holding an old wooden cane. He was dressed in a deep dark blue robe that ruffled and folded over his feet hazardously. Surrounding him were hundreds, if not thousands, of shadows weaving back and forth like strange monsters waiting for the lonely old man to fall and die and yet at the same time they protected him loyally._

_Feeling strangely frightful of image of the dull green line, Danzo quickly turned his eyes to examine the farther and brighter line that started to weave and waver like the gently twisting of the Naka River, although it was longer and had other smaller and different colored lines tangle in with it, eventually the line faded from view, twisting into four or five other lines before it faded. Curious Danzo examined that brighter line's surroundings, wanting to know just how that line was so vastly different then the previous one._

_Surrounding that brighter line that tangled into others, stood a tall dark haired man with a gentile and kind looking smile, beside him was a calm and pretty sort of woman and between them were three children. The family looked happy, odd but happy._

_Just looking at them Danzo knew that the old man and oldest boy fought often but loved each other regardless and the younger son was closer to his mother then his father, where as the youngest child, a girl, was all but clinging to the old man with childish adornment. The boys were mama's boys and the girl was clearly a daddy's girl; yet despite their division, the family stood together. They were odd shaped puzzle pieces that shouldn't have fit together, yet they did. Danzo could even see how the strange bright green line continued behind the family, tangling into others before it faded from his sight all together._

_That's strange__, Danzo thought as he returned to examining strange looking family. Although he could see the strange 'X' like scare on the father, he saw nothing else in the family that reveled an identity. The children and woman didn't have faces and they were so far away that he could barely make out their body shapes, yet at the same time he could see them clearly when he stared at the old man._

"_Hiruzen," Danzo called as he turned towards his friend, feeling uneasy how 'his' green line took off into two directions with two different endings. "Hiruzen," Danzo hissed when he realized that the brunet hadn't responded to him the first time, turning to glare at his friend, Danzo stared baffled at Hiruzen when he saw that the brunet boy was blushing wildly, his black eyes large._

"_Hiruzen!" Danzo hissed, slapping the boy on the backside of his head, "Snap out of it!"_

"_Ow!" Hiruzen hissed, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?!"_

"_Stop your damn daydreaming and tell me if you can see those faces or not!" Danzo ordered, pointing towards the family._

"_What faces?" Hiruzen asked as he stared dumbly at the two green lines, his brows pulled together in confusion. "I don't see anything other then that your green line split into two. Why is that?"_

"_You can't see them?" Danzo asked curiously, turning to look back at the lines just to make sure that the images were still there. Unfortunately they were, much to Danzo's irritation._

"_Well, can you see what's with my line?" Hiruzen asked curiously_

"_No," Danzo sighed. "Figures..."_

…

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><p>…<p>

"_It's been a long time,_" a whispery voice sounded around them, Hiruzen sighed and relaxed as warm air twirled around him playfully. "_Why have you come here now, Hirudan?_" yes the woman they came to meet often combined their names, just to irritate them. However, both Hiruzen and Danzo had gotten used to it, it was a name neither could get rid of easily.

"I think we've found a part of your physical body," Hiruzen murmured as he stepped ever closer to the figure he still couldn't see or sense within the vast darkness of the cave. "She is small and weak—"

"_And she rests with Minato Namikaze,_" the soft voice murmured gently.

"The wind has told you already?" Danzo asked softly

"_No_," the soft voice answered gently, "_No Kaze-Hime hasn't told me anything. Mother earth told me of her arrival._"

"How much time do you have left?" Hiruzen asked, he stepped forward and closed his eyes automatically, feeling something smooth like silk glide over his body and face as he walked forward. When he felt the last of the silk slide off his body from behind, like a curtain being drawn over his head, Hiruzen opened his eyes and waited for them to get adjust to the soft glowing light.

Danzo glanced back at Hiruzen for a moment before he stared up at the soft pillar of light surrounded by large columns of wood and earth creating a graceful and beautiful seal. In the very center of the seal and the bright soft light floated a half formed woman, her white dress floated around her, it's edges torn away as soft petals. She had no legs or arms, her face and chest half formed by the petals, some leaving her and some returning to her. Like a cycle, the petals left her billowing skirts and returned to the sides of her face and chest area. Yet both Danzo and Hiruzen knew that the petals floating away from her were not returning to her, they were small bits of her chakra leaving to search out the remnants of her fractured soul. The petals returning to her where the tiny fragments that were found, but very little of the petals seemed to be returning to her.

Yes the woman was not human, the diamond on her forehead proved that much. Yes, the woman should have been killed long ago, but she had saved too many lives. The Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's refused to kill her, so the Sandaime refused to kill her. That was why she was hidden so far away from the village, to keep both the strange woman and the village safe.

"_Not long_," the woman reassured with a gentle smile, as if she was amused by the question and saddened by the answer. "_Just a few more years... perhaps I'll die peacefully this time..._"

"You truly wish to die?" Danzo asked, rubbing his hands together in agitation, his fingers running over the golden band on his finger. "After so many years..."

"_Yes,_" the woman agreed softly, her eyes never opening and her lips twisting gently. "_After so many years in darkness, never seeing the light of day... I cannot return home, I cannot see my family or my friends. I am alone in this time. Yes I seek death; yes I wish to go to the after life..._"

…

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><p>…<p>

**Should I up date sooner then Normal?**

**I think I will! :)**

**Marry Christmas! XD**

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticism****is**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**What do you want to see for the next chapter? Should it be a time skip?**

**Page 11**


	8. Chapter 8

**Nature's Troubles**

Chapter 8: training time

Koomahana

**Hokoshi = lucky child**

**Mako = Demon child**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are __flashbacks_

…

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><p>…<p>

"Hay Minato, why don't you just go to the hot springs?" Chōza asked as he shifted slightly away from his friend. "You really do need a bath."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Minato sighed, his head dropping slightly.

"Have you been practicing every morning and evening like normal?" Shino asked as he turned to eye the strange child that was still clinging to Minato, her grip never loosening even after Shino's bugs tried to get between her fingers and loosen her hold. Chōza had wanted to help too, but he figured he was more likely to end up hurting the girl then freeing Minato from her.

"Yes I have," Minato answered looking slightly depressed and slightly thoughtful. "Doing our forms from the academy is unusually difficult with her in my arms. I'm forced to adjust for her weight and move differently then what I'm used too..." Minato's voice trailed off as he turned to eye his teammate wirily. "Shino what are you thinking?"

"Training session," Shino answered bluntly. Minato stared at the dark haired man for a moment before understanding dawned on him.

"You're absolutely right!" Minato grinned at Shino excitedly, his eyes wide and sparkling. "I could use this to train my team! Later guys!" Minato took off down the road, quickly moving across the roofs to reach his genin team that much faster.

"That totally went over his head," Chōza snickered, finding amusement with Shino's depressed aura. "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll be able to spar him soon. Maybe you'll land a hit on him this time!"

"Chōza," Shino called his voice low and deep as he turned towards the grinning redhead. "Shut up."

"Never my good friend! Never!" Chōza laughed as he slung an arm around Shino and dragged him off to his favorite food stand.

…

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"Sensei, is everything okay?" Rin questioned curiously, when she arrived she found both Obito and Kakashi standing several feet away from Minato looking disgusted and uneasy. When she turned to face her teacher, she saw that he was still dressed in his Anbu gear, his mask sitting on the side of his head, with the child they found clinging to his neck. Even from ten feet away, Rin could spell her sensei's odor. This told her that the blond hadn't been able to take a bath for at least two days.

"I was thinking of using my predicament as a training exercise for you three," Minato answered smiling nervously at Rin. "The boy's don't seem to want to get too close to me though..."

"I don't blame them," Rin replied as she approached her teacher. "I'm only standing so close because I'm used to this kind of odor."

"How can you be used to it?!" Obito asked, horrified that his crush could get so close to his teacher.

"The hospital has to deal with a lot of infections," Rin answered bluntly. "Infections often have scents to them. Some are worse then others like gag-green and gout."

"I've spelt both and you have my pity," Minato said looking slightly green him self. "Neither one are pretty and they smell even worse"

"Can we just set up traps?" Kakashi asked as he took a few steps back, "Rin needs to work on her close range anyways..."

"The both of you can't seriously be thinking of avoiding sensei at all coasts in the exercise are you?" Rin asked with a raised eyebrow at the two slowly backing away boys.

"Nope," Obito answered, shaking his head adamantly. "Let's face it Rin-chan, our long rang sucks and your close range sucks."

"Really?" Rin asked smiling at Obito, one brow twitching wildly making both boys pale and back up a few more paces hurriedly. "How about we form teams? Sensei and I protect the girl verses you two who try to take her?"

"Um Rin-chan I didn't mean it—"

"Oh don't worry Obito-kun" Rin said, making all three boy's step back from her uncertainly, Rin only ever called someone 'kun' when she was bout to beat them black and blue. Kakashi was the only exception to this rule, she was being mostly respectful to him but when they first met and he insulted her, she had yet to get back at him. Minato and Obito were sure that she was just biding her time until he relaxed around her before she made her strike, Rin could be viscous when she really wanted to be. "I know what you meant, don't worry I won't hold back on you."

"You're so screwed," Kakashi mumbled just before he took to the trees, knowing that Rin would target Obito first. Rin didn't mind being protected on missions, but when someone rather bluntly insults her skills as a kunochi, it's just best to run like hell and pray she didn't see you. Although kind, well mannered, nearly impossible to piss off and with a personality that wasn't befitting of a kunochi, Rin could get scary when she was mad—and by scary, Kakashi meant that her traps could get deadly.

Case in point, he just ran past a bunch of explosive tags and wires, Rin was prepared this time...

_Great now __**I'm**__ screwed,_ Kakashi thought as he dropped to the forest floor and ran like hell, not wanting to get buried beneath the tree's that would fall atop him if he didn't hurry.

…

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><p>…<p>

"Rin-chan were you prepared today?" Minato asked as he stared at the plum of smoke rising from the forest.

"I thought you set that up," Rin answered as she blinked dumbly at Minato. "I saw them before I got to them, so I went around them."

"Must have been another team..." Minato replied thoughtfully. He dodged when he felt the wind behind him shift; he ended up dodging a few shiriken. "He's using clan style again..." Minato grumbled when he spotted the wires on the ends of the shiriken. Rin sighed as she jumped away, landing on her hands she continued to back flip out of the way as Obito continued to throw kunai towards her.

"Dragon flame!" Obito roared blowing fire down the wires to guild his fire.

"Whoa! Can't touch that!" Minato laughed, quickly spinning out of the way of the fire. "Too close, I can't move with her..." Minato sighed when landed a safe distance away, not seeing the twitch in the girl's body. "Why can't you just move out of my way, little one?"

…

"_Why can't you just move out-a my way when I ask? Oh! Hay that can be the key word! Out-a my way!"_

…

For the next five minutes, Minato watched as Rin and Obito went at it, the boy trying desperately not to hurt Rin and Rin trying to land a hit on the dark haired boy. Minato did have to admit, he needed to work on Rin's close range, she really sucked at it. Feeling a shift in the air from behind again, Minato grinned, spinning to block the attack from Kakashi. As amusing as it was to see bits of the white haired boy's hair smoking at the edges, Minato was too busy moving to counter the white haired boy's attacks to really appreciate the sight. When Kakashi spun to kick at Minato from behind, Minato was surprised to feel a tug on his clothes, he raised his arms automatically while his eyes dropping to watch as the girl finally moved.

Kakashi's eyes widened when he made eye contact with the girl who had been clinging to Minato for the past two days, he was too surprised to see her awake to register her attack. The girl clasped onto Minato, moving her hands to grip at his hip and rib while she swung around, using Minato's half turn to her advantage, and slammed her small foot into Kakashi's cheek, making the pale haired boy all but fly twenty feet away and crash into Obito before landing. The girl slipped from Minato's body and took a shaky stance in front of him, ignoring the surprised silence surrounding her.

"You're awake!" Rin shouted, smiling as she approached the still sleepy eyed girl. "I was beginning to worry if you ever would." The girl relaxed her stance, neither boy was going to be moving any time soon, as she stared up at the brunet who crouched in front of her.

"My name's Rin Nohara, can I ask what your name is?" Rin asked, placing a hand on her chest before looking curiously at the girl's sleepy face that was half covered by long ratty pink hair. the girl was quiet as she stared up at Rin, her eyes blank as she thought, then her brows drew together and her face pinched into a frown.

"A na-me," the girl said softly, her voice scratchy and horse from not being used. "I-me-" she pointed to herself with a frown, her eyes locking onto Rin's in confusion. "Do-nt ha-ve... I don't—have... na-me, no name..."

_What's wrong with her?_ Minato thought as he slowly approached the girls, making sure to create as much sound as possible for the younger one. _She spoke so clearly before, why are her words so scratchy now? She didn't act like a child before, why is she now?_ Minato frowned when the girl looked up at him, her eyes suddenly brightening in recognition and a smile blooming on her face. she immanently held her hands out expectantly to Minato, like a toddler wanting to be held by a parent or elder sibling.

"Hay Ko-chan," Rin called softly, drawing the pinkette's attention. "Is it alright if I hold you? Sensei needs a bath. You've been hanging on him for the past two days."

"Af-ter ba-th, then hug?" she asked, lowering her arms and frowning at Rin in concern.

"Uh-huh, but not for very long okay?" Rin agreed, irritating Minato slightly. "Sensei can't be with you all the time, how about I stay with you when he's too busy, okay?" The girl looked up at Minato expectantly, her arms lowering and head tilting to the side. He nodded his head and she grinned again, quickly turning to latch her arms around Rin.

"You can go take a bath now sensei," Rin chuckled as she stood with the girl in her arms. Minato nodded and disappeared from sight, presumably to his apartment for clothes and a shower.

"Rin-chan not you too!" Obito cried out when he regained consciousness again, Kakashi staring at Rin dully but glaring when he caught sight of the tiny girl in her arms.

"Obito calm down," Rin ordered with a chuckle, turning towards her teammates. "Kakashi-kun, please stop your glaring, you'll frighten her."

"Bully," the girl agreed glaring through her hair at Kakashi.

"Why haven't you removed yourself from sensei until now?" Kakashi asked, glaring pointedly at the pinkette.

"He didn't ask," was the simple answer, "Key word wasn't given." Okay that cleared up a lot of the confusion the children felt at her previous statement.

"Come on," Rin chuckled walking past her teammates, "Lets get you cleaned up. I think I still might have some clothes from when I was your age. If they fit you, you can have them, okay?"

"Okay," the girl whispered, nuzzling close to Rin, closing her eyes as she listened to the brunet's calming heartbeat.

…

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><p>…<p>

**Should i have made this one longer?**

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticisms**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Page 6**


	9. Chapter 9

**Nature's Troubles**

Chapter 9: Knowing a little more

Koomahana

**Hokoshi = lucky child**

**Mako = Demon child**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

_Thoughts_

_Paragraphs are __flashbacks_

…

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The next time Minato saw his students he was stunned to find them already practicing, each switching back and forth on holding the girl while they practiced Kata's and forms. The girl's knotted locks were washed and brushed out, ending just past her knees in a lose braid. Her dress was a simple dark violet kimono top with black pants, the headband she had when she arrived resting soundly on her hip as a belt.

"Strike!" The girl ordered from Rin's back, prompting the girl to punch Obito in the chest when he left his guard open. Obito coughed hoarsely when the wind was knocked out of him, Rin's punch was strong enough to make him step back from her, tears appearing in the corner of his eyes.

"Good," the girl nodded and smiled at Rin from where she held on tightly, "Now legs only," The girl ordered dropping her weight and forcing Rin to grab her legs to keep her up. "Not all burdens can hold on, so you must adapt to them, using them to your advantage." Rin nodded and tightened her hold on the girl's legs, keeping her in place. Crouching Rin watched with a smile as Obito backed out so he could take a breather and Kakashi stepped in.

"Dodge punches to upper body," the girl suggested, watching Kakashi lower into a stance. "Keep distance, use your feet on his legs, block lower strikes with shin guards."

"I don't have shin guards," Rin replied as she ducked to the side of Kakashi's punch and lifted her foot into the air but she was off center, her shin collided with his hip instead of her foot to the inside of his thigh, the close range and teetering balance made Rin crash face first into the ground.

"I die," the girl sighed rising from Rin's back. "When you fall forward, use it to your advantage. Turn it into a summer salt with a kick to his side."

"I get the feeling you'll be a dangerous kunochi when you're older," Rin chuckled pushing herself up as the girl climbed off of her with a curious look. "Oh yeah, since your teaching me about you village's fighting style, can you tell me anything about them?"

"Like?" the girl asked, pouting when Kakashi grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. "Save me!" She ordered holding her hands out to Rin who quickly took after her, a smile on her face.

"Like their ranking system!" Rin said as she swept her foot out at Kakashi who jumped over it easily and kept running. "Didn't your village take any missions from people?"

"I don't know," she answered shifting on Kakashi's shoulder uncomfortably. "I was always the guest, the_ '_Hokoshi'—the lucky child, I never left the village. When we were destroyed I was unconscious when I was taken away."

"Do you know by who?" Rin asked jumping in front of Kakashi and aiming a punch to his middle and a kick to his extended leg.

"No," She answered, pink hair flying around as Kakashi spun away from Rin, her kick making him wobble slightly before he was able to take off again. "I only remember the others; there weren't many of us left. Just us twenty kids. We stayed hidden for that winter and the spring after, surfacing only when a gipsy came through. He took some of the others to his tribe in the safer lands to the north of us... so few of us stayed behind."

"Did you leave?" Rin asked, surprising Kakashi with a kick to his leg while her hand reached up and yanked him down, while he was off center, Rin swept up and snatched the girl from his hold while she sprinted away, knocking him over in the processes.

"No, I was 'Hokoshi'," she answered shifting on to Rin's back. "I had to stay, for memories sake. There were nine of us who stayed behind after the gipsy man came through but when we were strong enough to take on the snake man... we were down to six."

"Did you win?" Kakashi asked lunging at Rin with an Ax kick fallowed by a sweep at her ankles and nearly managed to take the girl from Rin's back. "Against the snake man I mean," Kakashi elaborated as he fallowed Rin, ducking her wide roundhouse but didn't see how she pushed off with her other foot and let her heal slam into his shoulder, knocking him away.

"I don't know," She answered truthfully, "I remember him hitting me and I remember that no one else was standing and I remember his scream when I hit him with a chakra scalpel and I remember the world going dark... but that's all I remember."

"Do you remember where you hit him?" Rin asked with a frown as she ducked under Kakashi's kick and slammed two fingers into his calf before moving into a backwards spin to slam her heal into his back—which he narrowly dodged.

"No..." she sighed slumping against Rin's back. "But I remember his blood hitting me... at least I think it was his blood... it might have been the rain..."

"Well you just might have hit your mark," Rin said grinning at Kakashi when she blocked his leg to her own _with_ her own, before using the same leg to slam the flat side of her foot to the inside of his upper thigh. "If you hit his chest you could have shredded his lungs and heart. If you hit his throat, you might have cut everything back to his spine. If you hit his arm you might have cut his artery there; so long as he didn't have a medic nearby, he could have bled out in a few minutes."

"I see..." the girl yawned from Rin's back, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. "So his chances of survival aren't that high... that's good."

_I should use the kids to get more info out of her more often_, Minato thought with a smile, watching the children spar. "Obito why aren't you diving in?" Minato asked startling his student, Obito turned to look up at him with a pout, one hand still wrapped tightly around his 'wounded' chest where Rin had hit.

"Rin-chan hits hard," Obito wheezed out, not seeing his Sensei's suddenly panicked look. "It hurts to breathe—"

"Obito smile," Minato ordered kneeling beside the young Uchiha, Obito did so in confusion. What Obito hadn't realized was that his teeth were bloody, having thought that the liquid in his mouth was simply salvia he never spat it out, just swallowed it. Minato's face paled and he snapped at Rin and Kakashi to stop and meet him at the hospital as soon as they got there, he then touched Obito's shoulder and disappeared from sight; quickly flash stepping into the hospital.

"I need a medic!" Minato snapped, startling several nearby

"I'm fine sensei," Obito wheezed, trying to grin reassuringly at the older man. However, that only seemed to make things worse, several medics swarmed him.

Apparently, Rin had hit a previously cracked rib that he had no idea he even had, and a splinter from said cracked rib (now fractured and nearly broken) had punctured a lung. When he found out about the damage done, he swore to only complement Rin from that moment on.

…

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"I see..." Hiruzen sighed, sinking into his chair and resisting the urge to rub at his eyes. "At least that's one problem off my plate..."

"Anything else you want to know about her?" Minato asked, ignoring the two men beside him. As interested as Shikaku was with the little pinkette, he was surprisingly calm with her, leaving her alone and avoiding her when and if he could. Inoichi was all but jumping in place, he wanted to meet with the little kunochi-to-be again, Inoichi always did have a soft spot for cute children. As depressing as the information the girl let out to Rin and Kakashi, as she was bound to be the only survivor, Inoichi was already charmed and wanted to have another talk with her.

"What about you two?" Hiruzen asked, turning to the other two curiously. "You find her home land?"

"I doubt it was her homeland," Shikaku said, shifting to glance at his teammate. "But we belief we've found the village she was in prier to her arrival here."

"Well... all the bodies were where she last saw them," Inoichi said with a cringe. "However... because of the extreme temperatures and the fact that it snowed the night of their murders, well everyone was dry frozen."

"Which means?" Hiruzen prompted with a wave of his hand for Inoichi to continue

"It means that everyone left in the village could have died last year or a hundred years ago," Shikaku clarified with a sigh, remembering the near perfect preservation of the bodies. "The winters there were even worse then we thought, we released a bird in the snow tied to a rope so it wouldn't go too far and an hour later it keeled over. The air it was breathing was so cold it froze the bird's lungs first."

"So it's like the burn of breathing in the cold air here but a whole lot worse?" Minato asked with a slight frown. "How did any of those plants last there? You said that there were a lot of trees there right?"

"Yeah and that's the interesting part..." Inoichi glanced meaningfully at Hiruzen before he continued, knowing that Minato and Shikaku weren't idiots. "The plants there... they didn't act so different from our own, the leafs fall in autumn and re-grow in spring. We even found a tunnel that led to the underground caves with the hot springs that the villagers used during the winter to stay warm."

"What Inoichi forgot to say was that all the tree's there aren't that old," Shikaku said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Barely a couple decades before they had a sudden and extreme growth. It looks like about two or three years ago they had this massive growth expansion that nearly swallowed the village hole; they also appeared to have died about a half year ago."

"Around the time the girl arrived and left the village..." Hiruzen mumbled, his brows pulling together thoughtfully.

"I hate to interrupt your thoughts Lord Hokage," Minato called out, drawing everyone's attention to him. "but what about the girl's name?"

"She doesn't know it," Inoichi answered with a raised eyebrow. "Her parents or guardians or whatever you want to call them, just called her 'Mesume' they never called her by name. The villagers called her many names, some nice like 'Hokoshi' and some not so nice, like 'Mako'."

"Okay well then why don't we just give her a name?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow, "Anko and Obito keep swopping names in the hospital room, they've settled on a few but they're all pretty rudiment names."

"Redundant names are remembered names," Shikaku deadpanned with a smile. "What do they have so far?"

"Pretty much Hana, Haru, Momo and Sakura," Minato chuckled, "with a few differences to the prier three."

"Well she won't accept anything that completely erases her previous life to us," Inoichi said thoughtfully. "Is it possible for us to keep 'Hokoshi' as a last name for her?"

"I don't see why we can't" Hiruzen chuckled, glade for a change in conversation. "Let's just make sure to get her approval before we get any paper work done on the matter."

…

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"So Obito and Anko have been thinking up names to call you," Rin commented as she brushed the girl's long hair out of it's braid.

"Really?" She asked tilting her head into Rin's gentile ministrations, "What do they have so far?"

"Pretty redundant names," Rin chuckled grabbing a hair tie and pulling the girl's lose locks back from her face. "They pretty much went through a book on names related to spring and flowers; I don't think they've picked out their favorite one yet."

"Hmmm," the girl sighed as she let Rin lift her from the counter and set her on the floor, she rubbed at her eyes tiredly as Rin took robe from her body and quickly wrapped her in a light violet sleeping kimono. "Spring?" she asked with a yawn, letting Rin lead her to their shared room in the apartment that Rin stayed in. "I like Spring... I like flowers too..." _the pink ones with five petals..._

"I'm glad you like the spring," Rin chuckled, lifting the girl into her bed, gently pulling the thick covers up to the pinkette's chin. "It's spring right now in the village. How about we go out tomorrow morning and I'll take you on a walk through the village, show you all the flowering trees."

"flower... ing... trees-s?" she asked with a thick yawn, making Rin giggle softly at her, gently brushing her pink bangs back from her face.

"It's a promise then" Rin said kneeling next to the bed and smiling softly at the girl. "I'll take you out in the morning for a walk around the village. I'll show you as many flowering trees as I can before practice..." Rin stifled her laughter as the girl agreed sleepily and soon fell asleep in Rin's bed, leaving the brunet to sleep on the floor beside her.

_Spring and flowers huh?_ Rin thought sleepily, to her it sounded like a clue. It sounded as if the girl was remembering something... perhaps it was a good idea to take her out on the town...

After all, some memory is better then no memory

…

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><p>…<p>

**Thoughts are helpful**

**Opinions are wonderful**

**Helpful criticism****is**** lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

**Please no cursing!**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Page 7**


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